eligibility for knowledge seekers

 qualifications for seekers

Beautiful thoughts

 அழகான வரிகள்....

வாழ்க்கை என்பது நீ சாகும் வரை அல்ல.. மற்றவர்களின் மனதில் நீ வாழும் வரை..

நாம் தேவையில்லை என்று சிலர் நம்மை நினைக்க துவங்கும் முன் விலகி நிற்க கற்றுகொள்வது சிறந்தது.

ஆசை படுவதை மறந்து விடு.. ஆனால் ஆசைப்பட்டதை மறந்து விடாதே..!

மன நிறைவு என்பது இயற்கையாக நம்மிடம் உள்ள செல்வம்.. ஆடம்பரம் என்பது நாம் தேடி கொள்ளும் வறுமை..

சில நேரங்களில் தனிமை கடினம்.. சில நேரங்களில் தனிமை தான் இனிமையான தருணம்!..

மரணத்தை பற்றி கவலை படாதே.. நீ இருக்கும்வரை அது வரப்போவதில்லை.. அது வரும்போது நீ இருக்கபோவதில்லை..

புரியாததை புரிந்து கொள்ளுங்கள்.. புரிந்ததை பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளுங்கள்.. வெற்றி நிச்சயம்!

வாழ்க்கை உன்னை எதிர்பாராத இடங்களுக்கு கூட்டிக்கொண்டு செல்லும்.. அன்புதான் உன்னை வீட்டுக்கு அழைத்து வரும்!

அறிவுரை தேவைப் படும் போதுதான் ஆணவம் கண்ணை மறைக்கும்..!

நீ சிரித்து பார்.. உன் முகம் உனக்கு பிடிக்கும்..! 

மற்றவர்களை சிரிக்க வைத்து பார்.. உன் முகம் எல்லோருக்கும் பிடிக்கும்..!

நீ நேசிக்கும் இதயத்தில் பல ஆண்டு காலம் வாழ்வதை விட உன்னை நேசிக்கும் இதயத்தில் சில நொடிகள் வாழ்ந்து பார் இதயத்தில் சுகம் தெரியும்

வளர்ந்த பின் வளைவது பெருமை.. வளைந்தே இருப்பது சிறுமை..

விரும்புவதால் கருவறையில் மீண்டும் ஒருமுறை இடம் கிடைப்பதில்லை

வெறுப்பதால் கல்லறையும் நம்மை விட்டுவிட போவதில்லை இருக்கும்வரை மகிழ்சியாக இருப்பபோம்..

Handling senses sensibly

Nityananda

Mind-Intelligence-Ego is the spot where the decision-making is happening. When we just try to conquer the senses, we will fail again and again. If we fail two or three times we will lose the confidence to try again. If we fail in a fight with our senses, we will automatically start thinking that it is impossible, and we will lose confidence. We need intelligence to progress in this path.

learn the science of creating the space of completion to conquer the senses. If we try to work from the wrong side out of incompletion, from the side of the senses, we will never be able to succeed. If we try to create more pressure on the cooker we will not be able to open the cooker lid. First, we need to put out the fire, the energy supply. Putting out the fire is doing completion with our root patterns. The ego or root patterns or the intelligence, the place from where we make decisions, is continuously supplying energy to our senses. So all we need to do is to work at the level of the mind and not at the level of the senses to become jitātmanaḥ. If we try to work at the level of the senses, we will create only more and more perverted desires, leading to more and more incompletions.(Nitya)

Living in the Present wisely and earnestly

 Start Living in the Present wisely and earnestly

Do not 

-mourn for the past, 

-worry about the future

-anticipate troubles, 

1. Remove unneeded possessions: use the freedom to shape  life today around your most important values

2. Smile.

3. Fully appreciate the moments of today.

4. Forgive past hurts.

5. Love what you do.

6. Dream about the future,  work hard today.

7. Don’t dwell on past accomplishments.

8. Stop worrying.

9. Think beyond old solutions to problems.

10. Conquer addictions.

If you can only live one moment at a time, you might as well make it the present.

"Whenever you feel anxious about your future or your past, just breathe,""  

You Are Not Your Thoughts

Life unfolds in the present.

do not let the present slip away

When you worry about the future and ruminate about what's past 

You allow time to rush past unobserved and unseized, and squander the precious seconds of your life.

Don’t be always doing something

Allow a  little time and practice stillness and calm.

At work we fantasize about being on vacation; 

on vacation, we worry about the work piling up on our desks. 

We dwell on intrusive memories of the past or fret about what may or may not happen in the future. 

Do not allow your "monkey minds," to vault from thought to thought like monkeys swinging from tree to tree.

Do not let your thoughts control you.

 feel more in control of your mind and your life, 

find the sense of balance that eludes you

step out of this current, pause, and…..

rest in stillness—stop doing and focus on just being.

live more in the moment. 

Living in the moment—also called mindfulness—is a state of active, open, intentional attention on the present. 

As  you practice becoming mindful, 

realize that you are not your thoughts; 

become an observer of your thoughts from moment to moment without judging them. 

be with your thoughts as they are, neither grasping at them nor pushing them away. 

Cultivate a nonjudgmental awareness of the present 

Mindfulness benefits. 

reduces stress, boosts immune functioning, reduces chronic pain, lowers blood pressure, and helps  cope with cancer. 

reducing stress, spending a few minutes a day actively focusing on living in the moment reduces the risk of heart disease. 

You become happier,  exuberant, empathetic, and  secure. 

higher self-esteem and more accepting of your  weaknesses. 

reduces impulsivity and reactivity that underlie depression, binge eating, and attention problems. 

can hear negative feedback without feeling threatened. 

fight less with  spouse   more accommodating and less defensive. 

mindful couples have more satisfying relationships

Escape Being a Victim of Time & Truly Live in the Present Moment.

Of course, it’s natural to spend moments of thought in the past or in daydreams of the future. 

Identifying impending dangers through associations with things that have happened in the past is important for self-preservation. 

But 

Do not let your life be dictated by thoughts and emotions attached to past events and potential future outcomes.

Be neutrally centered……see through life’s lens with clarity and naked awareness – 

Leading to contentment and understanding .

just because we’re used to doing something regularly doesn’t mean it is good for us, or the right way to live.

identify time for what it is. 

Time is a human concept. 

The watch on your wrist and the clock on the wall mean nothing to Mother Nature. To her, life is one evolving moment – a perpetual cycle of interdependent impermanence. 

we use time as a reference point for organising our lives and documenting history. It doesn’t actually exist.

Time is an illusion.

The past doesn’t exist and neither does the future. The only true reference point we have to this moment in time, and this thing we label “existence”, 

is a feeling of presence, of being here in this body, of seeing the world through these eyes.

This is all that can exist, because this is what you feel right now. You can’t feel the past or the future, but you can feel what it feels like to touch something right now, to see something, to hear something.

The concept of time deludes us into concerning ourselves with its passing and impending arrival. stops us enjoying this “presence” we feel. 

We are duped into remaining in one of two states: The first, one of dwelling in the past and mulling over what has happened. 

The second, one of waiting amd constantly anticipating what is to come, if and when…

For example:

don’t be

– too busy thinking about getting work finished by the deadline —give yourself a chance to enjoy it

– so stressed out trying to do your best work to impress your boss —-you prevent yourself being able to perform at your highest potential .

– so distracted by thoughts of Monday morning that you spoil the time spent with your children on the weekend

- so caught up in regrets of the past that you prevent opportunity blossoming in the present.

- let the opinions of others, formed through actions you took in the past, stop you being who you (are) want to be in the present

allowing yourself to be a victim of time – a victim of the past and a slave to a future that is yet to unravel – you will carry with you a sense of unease-be susceptible to stress, agitation and feel generally uncomfortable .

Wherever you are, commit to being there, completely. Life will take care of the rest.

Transcend desire ..osho

 

Osho

desire for money is not really the desire for money, it is the desire to expand.

And the same is the case with all other desires. 

Men want more power, more fame, longer life, better health, but what are they desiring in these different things? 

The same, exactly the same: 

they want to be more. They don’t want to remain confined, they don’t want to be limited. 

It hurts to feel that you are definable, because if you are definable then you are just an object, a thing, a commodity. It hurts that you have limitations, because to have limitations means to be imprisoned.

But all  objects of desire, sooner or later, disappoint. 

Money becomes possible one day, and yet expansion has not happened; 

you may have a little more freedom of choice, but that does not satisfy. 

The desire was for the infinite, and money cannot purchase the infinite. 

Yes, you have more power, you are more well-known, but that doesn’t really matter in the long run. 

Millions of people have lived on this earth and were very famous, and now nobody even knows their names. Everything has disappeared into dust — dust into dust, not even traces are left. 

Where is Alexander the Great? What is he? Would you like to be a dead Alexander the Great or an alive beggar? Ask yourself, and your being will say it is better to be alive and be a beggar than to be dead and be an Alexander.

“ watch carefully……money, power, prestige — nothing satisfies. 

On the contrary, they make you more discontented. 

Why? — because when you were poor there was a hope that one day the money was going to happen and all would be settled and settled forever, and then you would relax and enjoy. Now that has happened, and there seems to be no sign of any relaxation. In fact, you are more tense than before, you are more anxiety-ridden than before.

“Money has brought a few blessings, but in the same measure it has brought many curses too. 

bigger house, but less peace. 

bigger bank balance, but bigger madness, anxiety, neurosis, psychosis. 

The rich man becomes hopeless. He knows now the money will go on increasing and nothing is going to happen — just death, only death. He has tasted all kinds of things; now he only feels a tastelessness. A kind of death has already happened, because he cannot conceive of how to fulfill that desire for expansion.

“But desire in itself is not wrong. The desire for money, the desire for power, the desire for prestige, are wrong objects for desire — let it be very clear. By having wrong objects of desire, desire itself does not become wrong. You can have a sword and you can kill somebody — that does not make the sword something wrong. You can also save somebody with the same sword. Poison can kill and poison can become medicine too. In the right hands, poison is nectar; in the wrong hands, nectar is poison.

“This is the essential wisdom of all the buddhas of all the ages. What the priests say is one thing; what the buddhas have brought to the world is totally different, it is diametrically opposite.

“Desire has to be purified and transformed, because it is your energy — you don’t have any other energy. How to transform desire? One way, the ordinary way, the mediocre way, is to change the object. Don’t go after money, start going after God. You are frustrated with money — become religious, go to the church, to the temple, to the mosque. Let your desire have a new object called God, which is as illusory as the object called money, even more illusory, because what do you know about God? Money at least is something visible, objective; you have known it, you have seen it. What do you know of God? You have only heard the word. God remains a word unless experienced. God remains an empty word unless you pour some content into it through your own existential experience.

art of Listening

 

O

The Listening Heart

Constance Hostler

One afternoon as I worked in our garden a little neighbor on her way home from school stopped by to chat and as she rambled on about the ups and downs of her day she would often interrupt herself and say: "Are you listening?" To which I dutifully replied: "Of course, Susan." Then I would make some additional comments so as to reassure her that I was not inattentive. As a matter of fact at that particular moment I was more interested in the plants I was setting out than I was in little Susan and her problems and so I did not get the "feel" of what was going on in the child's heart and mind.

"Are you listening?" That remark came back to me several times during the evening and set me to thinking. How often in our contact with people we only half listen and thereby miss real opportunities, for in every meeting with others something can be given or something received — if we are listening with our hearts. This interchange of give and take need not necessarily express itself in any outward way but like a magnetic current may pass from one to another. You may leave a friend or even a fellow bus passenger with a feeling of warmth, of reassurance, merely because of your own inner attitude of quiet confidence, or of buoyancy because of your cheerfulness. And little do we know sometimes just how desperately needed such comfort is.

One evening an ill and elderly lady told me that as she was standing outside a doctor's office that morning, waiting to be picked up by her son, a young woman passed by and gave her such a warm and friendly smile that it lifted her heart and brightened her whole day. We have all had such experiences. Outwardly we may seem bright and gay, but inwardly our hearts may be heavy. And then we meet someone — it may be a stranger — and the power of a sympathetic nature reinforces us interiorly.

Some possess this responsive quality naturally; others express it intermittently and unconsciously according to their moods; but why not do it consciously, and as an expression of love for our fellow man? By listening with our hearts we can become truly sensitive to the needs of others. Also, since this is a two-way street, we shall become more receptive; and thus aware of the beauty and strength in the lives of those about us, we shall thereby realize an enrichment of character from both experiences.

Looking at a beautiful oil painting we realize that an artist is perceptive to ranges of color beyond our present ordinary vision; listening to beautiful music we realize that a musician's awareness of sound is beyond our present powers of hearing. Reading the writings of the great philosophers we realize that the breadth and depth of their mind or consciousness enable them to express great and universal ideas which bring enlightenment to mankind. This, too, they can do to a much greater degree than the average man.

Studying the lives of the spiritually great — those spiritual teachers of mankind down through the ages — we see a greatness of heart that knows no limits and embraces all in its love and complete understanding. Such a one constantly listens with his heart to the call of every being and gives his life in the service of all humanity. In fact he is the living imbodiment of wisdom and love and compassion.

Between the great and the average man are many steps, many gradations of character unfoldment, just as there are many gradations of color and sound and mental and spiritual perception. But anyone, whenever he wishes, can take these steps in interior expansion since all greatness exists potentially within every man's heart and merely awaits the inner drive or urge that will send it forth into manifestation as a living force in his character. A fine, strong, understanding nature is the noblest objective a man can have and the most direct path toward the attainment of such a worthy ideal is the cultivation of the listening heart.

The next time you are around people listen not only with your mind but listen with your heart for the undertones and overtones of what is being said and you will get the "feel" of the person and what he is trying to express. Thus you will realize that he and you are one and that inwardly you are faced with the same conflicts and problems. You will thereby establish links of sympathetic understanding between yourself and others because you will have learned, to a degree at least, the silent language that expresses itself through the quiet depth of a listening heart