Spirituality - The Peacemaker
From Amma's Birthday Message
27 September 2003
Amma has never considered that She has a birthday or that
it should be celebrated. It is the sankalpa [resolve]
of Amma's children that has borne fruit in the form
of these celebrations. It is an occasion for all of Amma's
children to come together to pray to the Paramatman
[Supreme Self], thus lighting the lamp of love and peace,
during a time when there is so much darkness, sorrow and
strife. This occasion is a festival of love.
As this celebration helps in kindling the awareness that we are children of the Divine Mother, Amma also agreed to join Her children to share their happiness. May this celebration pave the way to bring smiles to the faces of those in distress and also help in wiping their tears.
Today, children did padapuja [ceremonial washing of the feet] to Amma. Cleaning the drains, within and without, would make Amma happier.
One should not view serving others as a tiresome labour
but as an opportunity given by God. We should also
be able to serve society with the same attitude. We
should be able to see these actions as an offering
to God and experience contentment. |
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"We can increase the love within us. Likewise, if we so wish, we can increase anger, jealousy and other such negativities within. We have both within us. We have the freedom to choose what to discard and what to nourish." —Amma |
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Let us reflect a little on what we see in today's society:
1. To study about the worlds within the ocean and about the
mysteries in space, we spend a lot of money and organise expeditions.
But we are not ready to explore the world within, which
is nearer than the nearest.
2. The size of the TV screens in our homes is getting bigger
and bigger. But at the same time our mental screens are becoming
smaller and smaller. It is our selfishness and ego that is
responsible for this.
3. We have powerful vacuum cleaners today that can suck even
the smallest speck of dust. But we are not at all aware of
the pile of rubbish [negativity] within that is increasing day after
day.
4. We have decorated the walls of our houses with wallpaper
featuring beautiful images of Nature. We love it very much
that way. But at the same time, we cut down the trees around our
houses, and we do not hesitate to dump garbage into rivers or
ponds.
It is the mind that makes life beautiful or ugly. We should
first beautify the mind. Ages before, during the Satya Yuga
[the Age of Truth], there were intermittent wars between the
demons and gods. However, they lived in different worlds.
When Sri Rama incarnated, the enemy came a little closer and
occupied the neighbouring island. During the time of Sri Krishna,
the enemy was in the same family. In this age, the enemies
have come even closer, and are inside us. Only by winning
over the inner enemies can we achieve real victory.
Who are the inner enemies? Ego, jealousy, hatred and greed
are some of the enemies. To defeat these enemies, we need
to strengthen the army within us. Discrimination, humility,
service and love for God constitute this army. If we use these
positive forces effectively, we will be able to attain victory
and experience real happiness.
In today's society, the biggest complaint that everybody
has is the shortage of time. Everyone from top to bottom is
busy. Even a small child can be heard saying, "I am
in a bit of a hurry." This is spreading like a contagious
disease.
This is the condition of many people. They have thoughts
of hundreds of pending things but are not able to accomplish
anything. Why does this happen? It is because the mind is
not at all steady and still. We are not able to live in the
present. Our thoughts are always about the future. There is
nothing wrong with planning. Suppose we are drawing the plan
of a bridge, our attention should be focused totally on that.
When we are building the bridge, our whole attention should
be on that. But because we are anxious about the future, the
mind is always tense.
Tension is the cause of many diseases. Many are alive because
of a pacemaker. If we install a peacemaker in our hearts,
we can do without most of the pacemakers.
What is this peacemaker? It is spirituality.
When difficult situations arise in life, we try to change
the situation rather than trying to find and change the cause
of it. But unless we go to the root of the problem, we can
never arrive at a solution. For example: A little child is
crying out of hunger. The mother consoles the child by giving
it toys to play with. The child remains quiet for sometime. But
soon, when the hunger increases, the child starts crying even
louder. For the child to really stop crying, its hunger
has to be appeased. The cause has to be traced and treated
first. Normally, the way we solve a problem is by substituting
it with another problem.
In order to understand the root cause, we must remain alert.
We must learn about our mind and its thoughts.
There are four ways through which we effectively communicate
with each other: 1. Reading, 2. Writing, 3. Speaking
and 4. Listening. We are given good training for
reading, writing and speaking right from our childhood. But
our faculty of listening is not as well trained as the other
three. Hence most of the people are poor listeners.
God has given us two ears and one mouth. We have to listen
twice as much as we speak. But it is the other way around.
We go on speaking without listening properly. We need to
develop the art of listening. If we are good listeners,
we will be benefited in life, and we will be able to give
others happiness also. This art will help us act appropriately
in all situations and relieve us of many problems.
The reason behind the wars and the increase in terrorism
that we see in the world today is the hatred in the individual
mind. Keeping hatred within towards our enemy is like consuming
poison and expecting your enemy to die. It destroys all our
peace of mind.
When we see a physically handicapped person in a wheelchair,
it is easy to feel compassion towards that person. A person
who is not able to control his or her anger also has a similar
handicap, only it is not visible. Just as we feel compassion
towards the physically handicapped persons, we should also
feel compassion towards people with the handicap of anger.
It is our love and compassion that will help them to recover.
All our negative emotions arise from the ego. To recognise
the ego is difficult. The medicine to eliminate the disease
of the ego is love. If we love somebody sincerely, we will
never have any anger or jealousy towards that person. If we
set our minds to it, we can increase the love within us. Likewise,
if we so wish, we can increase anger, jealousy and other such
negativities within. We have both within us. We have the freedom
to choose what to discard and what to nourish. We must decide
what to discard and what to nourish. By constant effort, we
will be able to kindle the love within and thus overcome the
ego.
What are the gifts God has given us? Discrimination and love.
If we use these appropriately, we can realise God. Even though
we have both discrimination and love within, we often do not
use them. We thus become instrumental in destroying our own
unused gifts.
Love and life are not two, but one. A life devoid of the
sweetness of love is like a parched desert. Life and love
are as inseparable as a word and its meaning. Realising
that life is love and working with that awareness every
moment of our life is the aim of all spiritual practices.
When we begin to thus live life, others will follow suit.
We should love one another and become one. We should express
love. We can then create heaven in our lives.
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