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Love All
Love is happiness. Love is life.
Love is energy. Love is immortality. Love is wisdom. Love never fails. Love is success. Love is victory. Love is eternal sunshine. Love
alone creates and unites. Love is the moving principle of all forms of fellowship. When you realise your oneness with a man, you can really
love him whole heartedly. The world can only be united for common welfare through unselfish, pure, divine love. Love dissolves hatred and animosity.
Love promotes understanding. To love all as one loves oneself is the succinct statement of dharma. Universal love is the mark
of saintliness. Without love there is no life. God resides in all creatures. God is immanent in all forms. Therefore love all. Be compassionate to
all creatures. This gives the greatest joy to God. Love all in the one love divine. Modern civilisation is complicated and
artificial. Simple folk live in a world of love and peace. Let no one hate another or harm another. Look not at the defects of your
neighbours. Look at your own shortcomings and imperfections. Love one another. When these principles govern an individual's
life, then man is happy, peaceful and joyful. Love is the basis of all real and permanent happiness, of all real and permanent peace. Love is the
supreme gift; it is the greatest thing in the world. Love never fails. Perfect love casts out fear. Love lends impetus and
incentive to life. It makes one daring, courageous and strong. Love makes one generous, unselfish, patient, merciful and forgiving.
Love discloses the sublimest meaning and purpose of life. Love makes one have good will towards his neighbour, loyalty towards
his friends, and it gives compassion for the enemy. To love is to suffer. Love and suffering always go together. |
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The Same Self Is in All of Us
by Eknath Easwaran
[Listen to Audio!]  The same spark of divinity–this same Self–is enshrined in every creature. My real Self is not different
from yours nor anyone else’s. If we want to live in the joy that increases with time, if we want to live in true freedom
independent of circumstances, then we must strive to realize that even if there are four people in our family or forty at
our place of work, there is only one Self.
This realization enables us to learn to conduct ourselves with respect to
everyone around us, even if they provoke us or dislike us or say unkind things about us. And that increasing respect will
make us more and more secure. It will enable us gradually to win everybody’s respect, even those who disagree with us
or seem disagreeable.
Most of us can treat others with respect under certain circumstances–at the right time,
with the right people, in a certain place. When those circumstances are absent, we usually move away. Yet when we respond
according to how the other person behaves, changing whenever she changes, and she is behaving in this same way, how can we
expect anything but insecurity on both sides? There is nothing solid to build on.
Instead, we can learn to respond
always to the Self within–focusing not on the other person’s ups and downs, likes and dislikes, but always on
what is changeless in each of us. Then others grow to trust us. They know they can count on us–and that makes us more
secure too.
We can try to remember this always: the same Self that makes us worthy of respect and love is present equally
in everyone around us. It is one of the surest ways I know of to make our latent divinity a reality in daily life.
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How to Eradicate Hatred
No samadhi (union with God) is possible when hatred, prejudice, jealousy,
anger, lust, etc., exist in the mind. Remove these defects by love, endurance, contemplation of the infinite, vision of the
self, good company, and enquiry. Love is the greatest power on earth. Compassion is the greatest sadhana (spiritual practice). Karuna (compassion) is to relieve pain where it is and not to give
pain to others. He who gives charity to a poor man, gives it to himself. For there is nothing else save his own Self in the
universe. He who hurts, hates, abuses,
another man - he hurts, hates and abuses himself only. When thoughts
of hatred and revenge arise in the mind, try to control the physical body and speech first. Do not utter evil and harsh words.
Do not censure. Do not injure others. If you can do this for several months, the thoughts of revenge, having no scope for
manifesting outside, will die of themselves. Constant vichara (enquiry) and development of the opposite virtues of prema, daya, karuna (that is - love, compassion
and sympathy or commiseration will eradicate these two violent passions.) Serve the man you hate. Share with him what you
have. Give him something to eat. Prostrate to him sincerely. Your hatred will subside. Your hatred will leave you. And he
will begin to love you. Gifts and kind words tame the untamed man. Serve all. Serve the Lord in all. Respect all. Have equal-vision. All kinds of hatred will disappear. The sadhana (practice) of equal vision is extremely difficult but strenuous
efforts will bring about success eventually. Aspirants who wish to abolish the dividing line should develop love for a very
dear person first. After that he should develop love for an indifferent person. Then after that, he should develop love for
an enemy. In doing this, in each compartment,
they should make the heart tender and loving. And this should immediately afterwards induce meditation.
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Health is joy. Health is wealth. Health is the elixir of life. Without health life becomes a burden. Nature tries to keep us healthy but we bring on sickness by continuous
violation of the laws of nature. Natural laws are relentless. There is no mercy. In the animal kingdom there is seldom any sickness because animals do not violate
the laws of nature. Before the age of machinery, man's life was more natural. Persons of the past generations were much stronger
and healthier. Life in the twentieth century
is becoming more and more artificial. Hence there is much deterioration in health and strength. In spite of the innumerable
doctors and the latest medical discoveries our health is still deteriorating. "A sound mind in a healthy body", as the saying goes. The mind controls the body, so try to keep your mind as cheerful
as possible, under all circumstances. A strong mind wards off ill health and it also helps us to preserve good health. Run in the open air. Wear simple, light clothing. Take only simple,
light, nourishing food. Do not go to doctors. Endeavour to qualify yourself as your own doctor. Take lots of exercise. Take
sun baths and cold baths. Inhale ozone. Observe moderation in food, drink and copulation. Lead a pious life. Develop right thinking, right feeling, right
speaking, right action, right belief, right knowledge, right conduct. Do not employ servants. Rely on yourself in all things. If you want radiant health, return to nature. Then you will have a
blooming face and a charming personality. Avail yourself of all the healing agencies in nature. Avail yourself of the healing
properties of the sun, the water, the air, the earth, fasting, herbal plants and so on. Observe the laws of nature in all things. Eat, drink, sleep, think, conduct yourself
in the way laid down by the ancient sages.
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A SAINT
God dwells in those who have no lust, anger, pride, arrogance, delusion, greed, hatred and deceit. A sage realises
his unity, his spiritual oneness with others. He sees their suffering and out of compassion, devotion and love, he stays on
the earth plane to serve and to suffer for all creatures until they become purified and attain illumination. He is a saint who has conquered the senses, who is endowed with righteous conduct,
who speaks sweet words even to those who are crooked by nature, and whose heart is always softened by tender feelings for
others. He is a saint who has shaken off all attachments, who is never swayed by lust, greed or anger, who is constantly established
in righteousness, who is wise, humble, modest and forgiving. A saint is compassionate - he is free from violence, greed, hypocrisy and duplicity. He regards earthly
riches as poison. A saint is forbearing. He has a generous heart and possesses great fortitude and discrimination. A saint
is free from egoism and selfishness he is liberated. A saint is the one to be worshipped. He is a paramahamsa. He has shaken
off everything. Each saint proclaims the same truth but his teachings are adapted to suit the requirements of his time and
area of influence. He who looks upon everything
with an equal eye, who is perfectly calm and serene, who does not covet anything, and who is the friend of all - he is a real
saint.
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THE INNER BATTLE
The soldier fights for a few hours only,
But the aspirant's battle goes on day and night.
It is verily a hard battle, a fierce battle
And it lasts till the end of his life.
This battle is raging in the
field of the mind.
Satva (purity) fights with rajas (impurity) and tamas (inertia),
Higher mind wages war with the
lower mind.
Contentment fights with greed,
Patience fights with anger.
Brahmacharya (celibacy) fights with lust,
Humility fights with pride.
Fight, my brother, valiantly.
Raise the sword of Ram Nam (the divine name). —So says Sivananda.
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