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DEVOTEE


He who is employed in his outward actions of life, with his mind as bright as the clear sky; and which is freed from the midst of the worldly affections, is said to be the full knowing devotee.

The true devotee shines as brightly, as the clear autumnal sky, when the worldly impressions are quite effaced feom the heart, and are not seen even in dream, when the cloud of ignorance is cleared away, and the fog of egoism is utterly scattered.

Let your mind be as clear as the moon, and as spotless as the blazing sun; Let it hide the thoughts, of the measurer and measured in it; let it have the simple consciousness of itself, like a newborn child; and perceiving only the steady light of the consciousness - the seed of all intelligence; you will then come to attain the state of highest perfection in your lifetime.

Living amidst the fluctuations of pain and pleasure, attending on the lot of all living beings and occurring at their fixed times and places and actions of man, do you remain in steady service of your self - the leader of your body, by tranquilizing all the passions and desires of your heart and mind.


~ Yoga Vasistha


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"Looking For Happiness"
👇⬇️ Read the post below: ⬇️👇

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✨💐 LOOKING
✨FOR✨
HAPPINESS 💐✨

When physically apart, we can feel the separation — we pine for the loved one who is far away. At the spiritual level, however, physicalities do not matter. At this level, you do not have to strive to become One, for you are One. The urge to become One at the physical level alone is a great source of unhappiness.

A young man once asked me, ‘Is it possible to be happy in this competitive world? Can one really build a happy life on a foundation of distrust?’ An Indian maxim goes like this, ‘However hard you search in the mouth of a crow, you will not find any teeth there.’ The Bible says, ‘The Kingdom of heaven is within.’ The Gita says, ‘Happiness is within.’ But we search for happiness not within but outside. We get lost in the details and forget the essence…that lies within.

We are unhappy in life because we are victims of our expectations. Have expectations, but let not your happiness depend on them. Operate from love, not expectations. Love provides caring energy. This energy will make you effective and happy.

There was a Zen master. He was frail but had a powerful presence. He could push huge boulders effortlessly.

Someone asked him, ‘What is the secret of your strength?’ The Zen master replied, ‘Before pushing a boulder, I communicate with it, request its permission and support in my effort. And then the boulder gets moved miraculously.…’ Power comes from the mystery of love, not from our expectation of how others should behave.

~ Swami Sukhabodhananda

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🌻 "No gardener can make even one flower. The flower must come from the plant. The gardener can shake up the roots a little, feed it properly, water it, protect it from animals, expose it to the sun or put it in the shade when necessary.

Thus, outside service can be done, but the flower cannot come from the gardener. In the same way, the textbooks, the masters, and the rishis are all gardeners. The flower of knowledge must come from you. In the light of Knowledge all doubts end." 🌻

~ Swami Chinmayananda

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🌾
STORY OF THE OLD MAN
&
5 GRAINS


A rich man had three sons. As he grew old, he decided to give his property to the son who would value the wealth he had earned.

He called his three sons and gave them each five grains of rice.

He told them that he would ask for these grains at the end of 5 years and he would give his property to the son who would value these grains the most.

✿ The first son threw away the grains. He decided to show his father some other grains when he would ask for them after 5 years,in anticipation that his father would not be able to see the difference between the two sets of grains.

✿ The second son preserved these grains in a silver box and kept the silver box in the puja room at home, and offered prayers to the box while offering his prayers to God for 5 years.

✿ The third son sowed these grains and cultivated them in the backyard of his house. They grew into crops during the harvest season.

He kept re-sowing the grains from these crops.

In due course, he had a vast plot of land cultivated with rice.

As apparent from the above mentioned actions, at the end of 5 years, the father gave his property to his third son, as he was the most deserving among his three sons by properly fulfilling the desires of his father.

MORAL:

From the above story, we can come to an understanding regarding the proper and correct utilization of the senses which have been so mercifully awarded to us by the Supreme Lord.

Originally the senses of the living entity were awarded for the purpose of engaging them in the transcendental loving service of the Lord or that of His devotees, but the conditioned souls, illusioned by the material energy, became captivated by sense enjoyment.

The material universe is created to give a chance to the conditioned soul to rectify the conditioned activities of the senses and to re engage them in the direct service of the Lord.

In the story above, we can see that :

✿ the first son just threw away the grains. This can be compared to the people , who instead of converting the activities of the senses, make the conditioned souls sense-less and the Lord also sense-less.

This is improper treatment for the conditioned souls. The diseased condition of the senses may be treated by curing the defect, but not uprooting the senses altogether.

✿ The second son in the story, started worshipping the grains, just like the living entities, who illusioned by the glaring reflection of the external energy, worship the senses instead of engaging them properly in fulfilling the desires of the Supreme.

✿ Just like the third son who did the proper thing by re-sowing the grains for the pleasure of his father, the activities of the senses should be re-engaged in the direct service of the Lord by seeing the beauty of the Lord, hearing His glories and acting on His account.

In the Hari bhakti sudhodaya (13.2), the following beautiful verse, describes the proper engagement of the senses, by which we can be liberated from our diseased condition:

akshnoh phalam tvaadrsha-darshanam hi
tanoh phalam tvaadrsha-gaatra-sangah
jihvaa-phalam tvaadrsa-kirtanam hi
sudurabhaa bhaagavataa hi loke

O devotee of the Lord, the purpose of the visual sense is fulfilled simply by seeing you, and to touch your body is the fulfillment of bodily touch. The tongue is meant for glorifying your qualities because in this world a pure devotee of the Lord is very difficult to find.

Thus the challenging proposition of controlling the senses and stopping the material desires, becomes quite easy , if we become intelligent devotees, planning so many things for the service of the Lord and His pure devotees, so that the stagnant material desires become over flooded by the desire to serve the Lord and His devotees.

🌾 You have been given 5 grains to use & Just like those 3 Sons,
The Choice is Yours!

~Madhucchanda Das

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