Hand Of God

I think that most of us go through our days here with our eyes half-closed because we so seldom see the Hand of God working in our lives. It happens in countless ways every single day. Let me give you an example. Two years ago several of the Hawaiian shirts that I love to wear had become worn and threadbare. I really wanted some new ones so I saved any extra money I had for several weeks to pay for them. Finally, I headed to my favorite clothing store with a large denomination bill in my wallet to buy them.

When I got to the store I saw a local charity collecting money for the poor. I reached in my wallet for a five dollar bill to help them out. I grabbed it and dropped it in the bucket. As I let go of it, however, I noticed that it wasn't the five dollar bill but rather the large denomination one that I had saved to pay for my new shirts. I went back home disappointed at my mistake, but I quickly made peace with it. I knew I could wear my old shirts for a while longer and it felt good knowing I was helping to buy food and clothes for people in desperate need.

The next week I stopped by the local Goodwill store to make a donation when I noticed several Hawaiian shirts brightening up the clothing racks. I went through them and picked out enough to last me a long while for a fraction of the price I would have paid for new ones. It made me laugh and smile when I realized that God had given me all I needed and also helped me to help others as well. I thanked Him for guiding my hand and for guiding my heart that day.

Saint Francis of Assisi said: "While we have time, let us do good!" Do all the good you can then in the days you are given here. Give all the help you can. Share all the love you can. Spread all the joy you can. Scatter all the sunshine you can. Utter all the truth you can. And don't be surprised if the unseen Hand of God sometimes helps you out along the way.

- Joseph J. Mazzella -

Pearl 17

Once man is free from undue attachment to the body, he is liberated also from the dualities of joy and grief, good and bad, pleasure and pain, etc.  He is firmly established in equanimity, fortitude, undisturbed peace.  Then, man discovers that world is one in God; that all is joy, love and bliss.  He realizes that he himself is all this apparent worlds, that all the multifarious manifestations are the projections of the Divine will, which is his own reality.  This expansion of individuality is the highest goal of man.  It gives supreme Ananda (Bliss) an experience for which sages and saints spend years in prayer and penance.

(Tfd, 15 Dec '04)

Sacrifice

SIGNATURE

A small little tearlet

Glistened in my eyes

As I thought - of how

Age and Time had

caught up with -

Your Body too!

Now, so scarce may I see

You walk in grace, lovingly

as You tend Your flock!

I cannot bear the thought of

My Swami, now old or some day

Even gone!

Ah! Did I say -

'a small little tearlet'

glistened for You?

Shame is mine, no torrents

Rush with love for You!

Yet I believe - You my Lord

Are beyond - space and time

Aches and pains,

Chronicled age and

this five feet frame.

So this little tear,

that rushed from my heart,

Is nothing but -

The Signature -

Of my love

For You!

(By : Dr Vasantha Nair, Blossoming Love) 

Spirituality

You should never divorce spirituality from worldly life.  The cloth in my hand (a kerchief) is spirituality.  It is made up of threads which represent worldly life.  The cloth is there only because of the threads.  If you segregate the threads, there will be no cloth.

(Sanathana Sarathi, May 1993, pg 128)

MESSAGE 17

God is the higher Self of every self. Even though for intellectual purposes we separate this higher Self from the “I” in reality both are one and inseparable from each other.

Most of us fall into ignorance because we are more comfortable with the concept that the “Higher Self” is the “ruler” and the “I” serves the higher Self with its “free will”.

Until that concept of separation exists to realize your Self as God is extremely confusing and fearful. From the time of birth we lean on our mother and father…then in youth upon friends…later on your life mate and toward the end upon the children. We love them…we serve them…still they are the “other” and what we call our “I” is only a bundle of desires…fears identity and experience and that “I” is always searching from freedom from its own self. Even when we love our dear ones we do not feel free. In fact we increase our desires…share our experiences…understand each other’s fears…bind each other and defend our common ignorances.

And then we pray to the Higher Self to come to save us from our own “free will”!!

We fail to realize from the time of our birth that what we have loved all our lives is the love of the mother…the love of our father…the love of our friends…the love of our life partner and the love of our children.

We confuse the love for this love with the identity…the characteristics…the duty…the relationship…the time spent…the desires shared…the fears understood…and the ignorances forgiven. But all of this translates to the Higher Love. Only the wise one realizes that he loved the love of the Higher Self in all the forms that He Himself took while ‘He” also took your very form.

Yes! We are in love with love and loving love as one’s Self is “God”. The “I” is merely a reflection of that Higher Self that takes a form…lives a story and realizes that in his life…his search for love was nothing but a search for his Self…

And that search for the Higher Self must begin today…this very moment. Begin by saying, “I am the ‘Higher Self’ and because I have denied that I have made my own truth a doubt, and that doubt is the ‘I’.”

“Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?” Ask…until the answer is born from within you! Spiritual laziness must go! The truth is right in front of you…above you…below you…behind you and within.Part of the book: 'Inspiring Thoughts'
By Seema M. Dewan
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GEM 766

Service becomes truly meaningful only when it is rendered to the poor and needy.

(From : Garland of 1008 Gems, Bhagawan Shri Sathya Sai Baba's Sayings)

Divine Grace

There in nothing to fear, for you are always and forever in the presence of God.

- Martha Smock

If someone were to ask me what I considered God's grace to be, my answer would come without hesitation : God's grace is the assurance that I am always in the presence of God and now with the eternal love of God.

Grace is the beauty and blessing of each new day - a day to live in oneness with my Creator.  Every opportunity before me is a direct result of grace.

The love and appreciation I feel for God fill me and flow from me to others through the things I say and the actions I take.  I know that God gently guides me in the way I am to go, and I make the choice to listen to and follow such divine wisdom.

Grace is the assurance of God's presence within me and God's love for me.

(From : 'Daily Word' magazine by Silent Unity, a world wide prayer ministry) 

Q509

Can Namasmarana alleviate the burdens of life ?



The Name of God is the most effective tonic.  It will keep off all illness... This one ever-present job will alleviate the burden of all the hundred jobs, make them all lighter and more worthwhile.  Rise every day with the thought of God; spend every day with the Name of God; go back to bed with the thought of His Glory as enshrined in His Name.

(SSS Vol 8, pg 188-189)

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