Friends. Today we will concentrate on the questions. “How do I put
divine energy-which is in me-into creative action?”. . . If our energy
is guided by love and intelligence the human dimension becomes the
foundation of the spiritual. Physical and spiritual are not contrary:
they are complimentary dimensions. Human and divine also are not
contrary, but complementary. We must make the human support the divine.
When our actions are guided by love and intelligence, matter helps spirit
fulfill its aspirations.
Our
actions create our destiny. This life is in our hands. In this life, our
time and energy are limited to this journey. We want to fulfill
ourselves: to use, not misuse, our talents and energies. We can never
find a better time than now. There may be a New Age ahead, but now is our
time. We are here: this hour is for our unfoldment and fulfillment. And
tomorrow is not separate from today. Tomorrow, friends, is constructed
today.
Atman
is soul, and atom is matter. Life is the partnership of the two. The
Essence looks through our eyes, and hears with our ears and speaks with
our lips, and learns and acts with our whole being. Behind the visible is
the invisible, that gives it function. Also, experience has to be
digested, as well as food. We do not want thoughts, words, deeds-this
human trinity-to create negativity. We withdraw from the world during
meditation, in order to know who we are and how we can help the Cosmos:
and we return brimming and overflowing with positive energy, energy in the
hands of love and intelligence.
Through
the qualities of his loving and his knowing, man is constantly being
born. He is giving rebirth to himself, a rebirth in which he becomes
conscious of the causes and consequences of his assumptions and actions.
He evaluates, judges what he has been doing, chooses a new option, and
explores and develops the new possibility. In this way, he moves toward
the fuller realization of his essence, his divinity. . . . The day dawns
for him who is awake.
Growth
and progress are not instant, but the fact of human ascent is discrenible
Take a moment and think-Is man not a miracle?. . . . From a single cell we
have grown to the point where we can observe the moon, the sun, the light
rays.
But do
we learn anything by observing our own interactions? Many centuries ago
in China, Mo-Tzu said: “If it is a crime to rob or kill one man, how much
greater a crime to rob or kill a nation of men. “Now at last, even though
military appropriations increase, many people all over the world are
rejecting war. The soul which discovered the power of the atom can also
discern between its constructive and destructive use. We can use creative
energy, which is within us, to choose life.
We are
not, in essence, the destroyer of ourselves or others. The destruction
we bring about is not from the soul, the Atman. It is from helplessness,
ignorance, unbelief, armored in pride and ego. Under the armor is always
a soft being who wants to give and receive love, and who aspires to
emancipation. . . . Energy must flow into acts of love. Unless we love,
books do not educate us. If the heart is dry. Without love inside us,
nothing grows, Knowledge from the brain is barren. As a poet said, “The
heat has reasons which reason does not understand.” Love is a fountain of
energy. If you love yourself and others, you live. If you hate yourself
and others, you die. You must feel that “I am energy-and am responsible
for the use of that energy and of all physical energy.” At that time you
will recognize your true self.
Friends, how much energy is poured into pastimes, into petty
self-gratifications, and self-indulgence, into wasting time, and into the
world’s hurly-burly-into lust, driving nowhere in fast cars, drinking,
taking drugs to relax. We waste energy in worry. Let go of guilt – say,
“That time I was ignorant, and now I know!”
Don’t
compare yourself with others. Gandhi was small in body, and if he had
compared himself with others he might have doubted whether he was
impressive enough to lead a nation. All night we thrash, turn, consume
energy meant for the morning. The cure for this disease lies hidden in
the heart of the illness. The essence of these states of excitement,
these emotional whirlwinds, is energy. Instead of the problems we now
cause ourselves, we can learn to transmute destructive actions into
constructive energy.
Today,
friends, in this age of a global society which is also the nuclear age, we
need to use meditation to find the divinity within, in order to find
meaning in life. If we find the divinity within, we will want the
well-being of all.
There
are two kinds of meditation. Once is meditation with the eyes lowered, or
closed. The other is meditation with the eyes wide open.
When we
meditate with our eyes closed, we go within to the subconscious and super
conscious, the essence, the divinity. Lust is transformed into love.
Self-centeredness and indifference become transformed into compassion and
the desire to serve mankind. Apathy and doubt, skepticism and cynicism
become transformed into living and intelligent action.. . . Energy bubbles
and pulsates.
Meditation with the eyes open shows us the world around us, and from the
world around us-sun, wind, trees, humanity-comes energy: the center and
the circumference interact. We can meditate walking in the street or by
the sea, or sitting in the subway. Around us we see all we have been
given: sea and flowers and one another. And we see our interrelated-ness,
for we could not live without earth, water, fire, air, nor without one
another-including the efforts of millions of strangers. We are dependent
on one another for our food, our clothes, our homes, our streets, our
vehicles, our boats, our children, our education, our science, our art,
our religion. Meditation will show us how to make our interdependence
benefit us all, so no one will be advantaged at another’s expense,
Meditation will make us grateful, humble, enthuse and united. When there
is luminosity at the center, everything is telling us of great mysteries.
And we see that since we are living in time and space, nothing is static.
Time gives us change, which is a part of evolution, an unfolding and
opening out of what is contained within.
When
you meditate, there is no fearful distrust, no tense uncertainty, no
roughness, no coarseness. Meditation deepens understanding, love and
intelligence. The world is full of beautiful things, and of compelling
challenges; we are too often not aware of them. It is a world full of
being that need compassion, not our constant criticism and condemnation.
When we have reached our center through meditation, we will not avoid
confrontation with the opposition! However, we will not deny the humanity
of our opponent. If we deny the humanity of another, we deny our own.
In
meditation we make sure our actions are directed toward our life’s
mission. Our mission should not be one imposed on us by our family, or by
the impact of our society. We must choose it. In meditation, we can come
to be sure our choice is neither impressed from outside, nor an expression
of our ego. Then when we know our mission, we have to make ourselves
unavailable to all the superficial demands on us that would distract and
deplete our energy.
Life
can be manysided: we may have a vocation, family ties and
responsibilities, and apart from our vocation, we may want to work for
social change. All these aspects of life can enrich us and lead to
meaningful actions. If we give ourselves to a life’s mission leading to
our Essence, we will be linked to all the living.
Love
and intelligence lead us to recognize that each moment in our lives is
precious and purposeful. We shape our own lives by what we do, as the
potter is shaped by the pot he makes. When we discover our mission in
each moment, our lives will become transformed.
The
world is a guest house where people can cooperate and help each other.
Life is a wonderful gift filled with gifts. But why are peace and justice
so lacking? Where have truth and beauty gone? We have used zeal and energy
for control of the physical plane. Now we must use our zeal and energy
to bring all beings, the gift of unity and peace and justice. To realize
this prospect we will have to delve deep into ourselves.
How can
we make the human the foundation of the divine? By going to the divine
within, purifying our own essence. If our lives combine contemplation and
action, the mystical experience will afford us new options. We can never
follow old precedents to reach new possibilities.
And if
we know our life’s mission, we will not be afraid even of death. Think of
how many sons have been expected to be willing to die in war for their
countries. Then is it any wonder that seers have been willing to live and
even to die, if necessary, for mankind? Christ, when he was nailed to
cross said, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.” At
death’s door he thought of others. Death held no fear for Socrates, who
insisted he was not a citizen of Athens but of the world. He drank the
hemlock, but for him, poison was no poison. If we know our mission, fire
cannot burn us, water cannot drown us, drought cannot desiccate us: we can
be calm and at peace with the fact of physical death.
Karma
tells us that every thought, word, and action goes into the universe:
there is a universal recorder. There is a record of every thought, word,
and deed influencing the future. Yes, these vibrations work like the
telephone and radio and television. We have faith in these, but do not
realize that our own energies set up vibrations that register in the
universe. When we meditate, we give vibrations of love, peace and under
standing. And then these impel us to actions. The day will pass: what
you give, stays.
We live
in a dynamic universe. One act can produce a whole chain of actions so
the present and future are both enriched. Let us glide into meditation to
discover our creative energy and learn how to use this divine energy more
constructively.
THOUGHTS
