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Self Remembrance
We make mistakes in life all the time: in decision-making, in relationships, and in choosing priorities when we are not able to decide between the voice of the Self and the voice of our own mind. Some cases of losing oneself or forgetting oneself are listed below to illustrate the idea and inspire us in seeking the True Self . . .
- Chasing after objects of desire thinking that these will bring happiness. We have failed to remember that happiness lies within and is our own true nature.
- Entering into interpersonal conflicts and having thoughts of hatred is forgetting to see the Self in others. It is the same with our thoughts of inferiority or superiority when compared to others.
- Becoming dependent in relationship to the point of losing one’s self respect, leading us to fear and abuse is forgetting one’s Self.
- Losing oneself in addictions is Self destruction.
- Losing oneself in the memories of the Past and acting out of the Past is Self Forgetfulness.
- Fearing the Future and becoming anxious and stressful is forgetting one’s capacity to be in the fulfilled Present.
- Depending on other people’s opinion of us is losing one’s Self in the illusions of name and fame.
- Wanting to please others is losing one’s Self and not remembering that the Self is in all.
Forgetting the Self makes us weak and ungrounded. This means we live in the illusions of others. Remembering the Self in all will make us strong, balanced and interdependent.
by SWAMI SITARAMANANDA
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Decisions
The art of right decision making lies in thinking less.
When I am faced with a difficult situation, I naturally begin to think a lot. I tend to feel that the more I think, the more choices I have and the better the decision I will be able to take. But such thinking only creates more and more waste thoughts. I need to make the effort of thinking less about the problem. Even a few moments of internal silence helps me develop my intuition and the right decision is made from within; because silence brings solutions.
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Fall in Love with Yourself
You’re the most important person in your life, so fall in love with yourself!
How? By appreciating the best in you – your qualities, your inner beauty.
If you don’t love you how do you expect others to love you?
And when you love yourself, you’re able to love others unconditionally.
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Let Go and Let Love
Just as the bird has to let go of the branch in order to fly, in the same way we also need to let go to experience and express love.
The branches we hold on to are our attachments (people and objects). When we mentally hold on to something or someone, we open ourselves to feel fear, pain, anger and possessiveness.
Love is about letting go and letting others be. It’s about appreciating and accepting without dependency and expectation.
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Manage Your Mind
1. Be in the present:
If you take care of the present, if what you do today is good, then you will just move toward your ultimate realization. That is the purpose. Other things, worries, this that, “What will happen?”, “Where do I live?”, “What do I eat?”, “Who am I with?”, all these things are not so important.
2. Keep correct knowledge only in the mind:
Correct knowledge will calm the thought waves down. This correct knowledge, that all will merge as one, will keep you peaceful. Incorrect knowledge such as, “I want to go be with my friends on the beach in Florida.”, or “Maybe I should go to Hawaii.”, all of this is incorrect knowledge and will create a lot of waves in the mind. Thoughts like, “What is the difference of Hawaii or Florida?”, “What’s the difference between this friend or that friend?”, will create a lot of waves in your mind and you won’t go anywhere.
3. Do self study and listen to scriptures:
Correct knowledge is not that easy. That is why you have to study and listen to the scriptures so that it is imprinted in the mind that such thoughts actually are good and are possible. Nourish yourself with it and you will be fine.
4. Practice of non-attachment.
This is the practice of non identification with the thoughts waves, which means not being distracted.
5. Manage your mind. Concentrate.
Don’t let it loose.The mind is very fast. Every thought is a lot of energy and very, very fast. So abhyasa, constant practice of restraining of the thought waves is needed. Then you don’t have much stuff floating around. What if and what if and I’m afraid of this and I fantasize about that, etc. You have too much energy in your mind, junk, garbage, erroneous understanding! Focus. Learn how to transform all this material that you think is free. It’s not free, it’s harmful material. The energy in your mind that is not used or channeled properly is energy that pulls you down. That is why you cannot go into the concentration and meditation state. So you need to create space by reducing the erroneous understanding, the memory, the sleep, and the verbal delusion and by increasing the correct understanding. Then you have a chance to clear your mind.
6. Use up the energy of the mind through Karma Yoga.
If you can’t meditate, then do Karma Yoga with the tremendous energy that you have. Usually we say we don’t have time to do it but it’s just that the mind is so used to being in the dull state and it enjoys the jumping state. The wrong habit is the mind doesn’t enjoy the concentrated state, specially it doesn’t like something selfless and detached. That is why focusing on Karma Yoga (selfless work) is very helpful to calm the mind down.
by Swami Sitaramananda
