Plant Truths Within Your Being

Subject:  Lightline Teleconference  2013-01-10
Teacher: Charles, Machiventa, Christ Michael

T/R:   Mark Rogers, Henry Zeringue

Prayer: [Mark] Divine Parents, what a joy it is to come together as truth seekers, as those who have a genuine desire to go the second mile, to gain what is being offered immediately before us, to take advantage of the plan that you have created for us, the opportunities that you provide for us. Help us to be willing participants; help us to be eager players in the game. Help us to never stop seeking because it is in this seeking that invariably we find you in your various manifestations throughout the process. It is only us that changes in our awareness and our perception, in our capacity to receive that which you would bring us. And so, since it is us that do the changing, may we readily accept the opportunity that this changing brings to us and embrace it with you even now in this opportunity that is provided. We come to you as those eager participants and provide our energies into the equation to make this opportunity so. In faith we execute this task. Let it be so, even now.

Charles: [Mark] Yes, I am Charles glad to accept the opportunity you provide here tonight and eager to be a participant with you in the process. In consideration of the questions tendered here tonight, first the observation of where you are at in the line of spiritual progression, this consideration of a first miler or a second miler. It is safe for all of you to assume who are here that you have agreed to go the extra distance. If you were a first miler, in fact you would have fallen off by now. First milers are ones who only are willing to put in a limited amount of energy into the equation and then consider their obligations finished and return to their original course.

Second milers are ones who are willing to invest the added energy into the equation, to move into another realm of working or agreeing to stick with it and go for it with no real end in sight, no real goal that one can accomplish and then be finished. You all are coming to realize in your own experiences, this is a long term project, an eternal goal, that there is no rush, there is no need for anxiety and there is a certain appreciation of this continuum that one gains when they turn themselves over to this truth. So those who are willing to keep going are invariably second milers even though they may go a hundred or a thousand miles in their quest, the distance is irrelevant because they have accepted that it is the journey that is significant and that having set out on this long term endeavor, one then might ask themselves, what now? What are the appropriate questions to ask? What should I be learning, what should I be doing to make the most of this journey to maximize this potential? Those are fitting and proper attitudes to have and questions to seek the answers to.

So it is quite normal for you to consider the next level of question asking, what is appropriate for beings who are into the third, fourth, fifth or fiftieth mile? What are proper things to be observing, learning and embracing as truth so that you can move forward in the process? One invariably finds that those things that you should be seeking are brought before you, the questions arise, the circumstances materialize to bring you these next set of questions, the next opportunity to grow and to learn appears suddenly before you as if it were magic, but in fact it is all a result of this universe principle we have just discussed in play. These are normal and natural steps in the process to be encountering and traversing in your process.

And so it is I'm able to weave these concepts, these questions, this seeking together into this lesson that you have so neatly provided having contributed all of the aspects and simply looking for the spiritual thread that runs through them. This is what defines you as seekers, as one in search of greater and better realities, truths and awarenesses. What a pleasure it is to come to this group and simply weave together all of the elements that have been provided into a pictorial image. Thank you for this opportunity. I understand its magnitude and I would offer it now, up to the next speaker as I understand there are others. Thank you, farewell.

Prayer: [Henry] Thank you Father for this gift of life, this opportunity to be here to partake in this sacred space which is created by our willingness to ground and grasp in your presence.

Machiventa: [Henry] Greetings to you my friends, it is I Machiventa here to help shed a little light on the irregularities of life. It is true that spirit working within one works as a whole concept that maybe at one moment one particular part is being focused on. But in a sense it is like an onion, once you peel back one layer, once light has shown on some imperfection that somehow you are able to bring it to a level where it is less imperfect, then another level reappears, then another one. There are many aspects to imperfection and spiritual growth.

This is actually the second mile because in this mile you become conscious of who you are, you become conscious of your co-creative life with divinity, that divinity has actually chosen to take the ride with you to act as a guide as a captain. It is in this awareness that you begin to see all that you are not and all that you could be and feel that you want to be. This feeling that you want to be is very important because this is the intention, this is the spiritual aspect of your consciousness which shows you that you could almost be perfect, you could almost have a palpable sense of it.

It is against this backdrop, this perspective that one begins to view ones imperfections, ones shortcomings, those things that one must tidy up, not to mention the perpetual focus, poise and stance one must maintain in the process. Life does present the variables into the equation. Sometimes there are suddenly variables but variables nonetheless. Life is designed for you to make choices and to move forward with those choices. If the choice is not working for you, well you are able to move into another understanding by making another choice. Making a choice from experience is different from making a choice that you are forced to make suddenly because the choices you have to make suddenly, you have to go with this instinct, this gut feeling, not necessarily in understanding or knowingness, it's just in the moment. Your instinct shows you which choice, it is kind of synchronous and spontaneous at the same time.

If you are consciously living your life and Father's will, doing all that you can do, then you are in synchronicity with your spiritual life and you can trust that the choices you make and the work you have to do will eventually lead you to a greater and in depth spiritual awareness where you begin to find this peace within, this knowingness, this understanding. It is kind of like the mind of the Master. The Master literally walked through battlefields every day, but he was poised. He was poised with an unshakeable character about him, an understanding of the Father, the Father's love, the Father's love for his fellows, an in depth stance, he could just walk through life unfazed, unreacted to life, that he was in complete control at all times.

This is what this spiritual mind is, is something [that] as a human you develop. It doesn't all of a sudden automatically just happen but there are aspects to it that do suddenly propel you into awareness that all of a sudden you go wow, and it gives you a sort of mental ease, an understanding because you see yourself as not the most important thing, but as a little part of the whole picture. And so we are where we are now, we are in a new year, you are in a new understanding, the understanding that something from the outside is not going to come and make things easier for you, that the program is still the same as it ever was, that you are indwelt with a divine aspect of the Father, that this Divine Aspect is growing you daily, that you can either help move this along and grow with this or you can ignore it.

People are still suffering, situations become compromised politically. More of the western worlds are looking more like third worlds every day, even parts of your own country. There is a tremendous amount that you can do as a spiritually compassionate and aware person. Everything is affected by everything else. Every decision you make, every act that you perform reverberates. It is like a domino, it either knocks down other dominoes or it's like a ripple in the water, it grows exponentially as it moves out.

So my friends, if you want things to get better you are going to have to make them better. We are here to help you, we are not going to do it for you but we hold you in a tremendously loving embrace and we are willing to guide and help you every inch of the way, just allow us, just ask us, just work with us. It is a slow and tedious process. Most of your growth work actually will not be here, it will be on our side when you are with us. The work will never be completed in your lifetime on this planet or by you. But know that one day it shall be accomplished and the part that you perform now is part of the foundation required to build a strong spiritual foundation on this planet amongst the social character of its people and into the lifestyle of everyone.

Be of good cheer and be in peace my friends. The task is at hand, the time is now to act. Take control of yourselves; do what must be done. Take care of what's in front of you. It is easy to pretend that you can camouflage yourself and slip and avoid something you don't want to face but it will only resurface down the road in a different form because you must learn things in a certain sequence. This is all predetermined for you. So good luck my friends, know that you are in good hands. I thank you for this opportunity to have spoken and I now leave this platform for others, thank you.

Michael: [Mark] Hello to all of you my dear ones, I am Michael. I am your Father, it is true enough to say and that you are my creations but I also have another role that I can play with you that I invite you to consider in the ever growing consideration and expansion of your awareness of the different dimensions of our relationship, yours and mine. So I would bring a few more words to seed in your consciousness and invite you to nourish and grow within. I invite you to more fully embrace the truth that I have arranged this experience for you as part of my creative objectives and there has been much talk about your journey and your choices, your direction, your purpose, whether you are in the first or second mile.

All of this is worthy of your consideration, but I invite you to consider that all of these are part of the greater dimensions that [are] going on simultaneously alongside your everyday choices and experiences and that is that you are growing an experiential base that is your gift back to the First Source and Center. And, to the degree that you are willing and in awareness, there is another added dimension which increases the scope of your experience and that is to make it our experience, to invite me in to more fully share what is your experience, to live vicariously, if you will, though you and in this way, having been invited, I may share with you these experiences which then I will help you bring to the First Source and Center and these experiences may turn into our gifts.

So while it is so very true that you are on a singular journey, meaning it is your choice, it is your energy that propels the craft. It may also be a shared experience between us if you will so invite me to share it with you and I will bring my assurance that all is well throughout the process, that there are no contingencies that I have not provided for. I am aware of the entire scope of the journey and should you desire to take counsel with me, I can certainly bring some of my perspective to be shared with you. This perspective, this overarching view is what makes the journey more palatable, more reasonable, more correct as the greater your perspective provides, the greater your sense of well being within the design follows.

I just thought I would take this opportunity to plant these truths within your being. I invite you to nurture them and to return to them, to see them as a gift to you, those of you who ask what direction should I go and what questions should be asked. I have just provided you that with which you seek. Be in good cheer indeed. Be in love with me and the Father who cherish you all in this experience and in the part you have to play, the contribution you have to make to the One, to the Supreme, to us. Let it be so; for those with ears to hear, let them hear.

Take now my peace, my love. Assume the authority that I grant you in this moment, to share my peace, my love, your sense of awareness of these things and your deeper understandings of my nature and the nature of the Father whom I represent. I not only empower you to do so, I request that you spread my love among all my beloved children, brothers and sisters alike. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for your consideration. Thank you for seeking me, us, truth, beauty and goodness in your process. It determines our relationship to each other and it grows and becomes closer with the passage of the growth and awareness that comes to you in the process. Be at peace, be in love and be in remembrance of me. This is my desire, let it be so, farewell.

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Q: How to overcome insecurity?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Insecurity is because you feel there is nobody for you. Wake up and see there is so much humanness, there is so much love in the world, and you don’t need to feel insecure.
You are walking in the street and somebody needs some help. They cannot carry their bag; won’t you go and help them? Right?
You know when we feel insecure? When we feel there is no humanness, there is no compassion, nobody is kind and nobody is friendly. Only then we feel the insecurity.
If you wake up and see, in this world there is so much love, so much compassion, so much a sense of belongingness, then there is no need of insecurity, okay!
Pranayama, breathing techniques and meditation definitely helps you to get over this feeling of insecurity. It has already happened. How many of you already feel that you have gotten over this feeling of insecurity? (Many raise their hands)

Q: How do I know if a relationship is good for me or not? Is he just pushing my buttons and I need to learn from this, or is he just not good for me?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well I have no experience in this, so I can’t tell you.
Before you judge someone else first see how you relate to them. How big a heart you have, how much you can accommodate a person, and how much you can influence someone to change. This is what you need to look into.
Sometimes when you get doubt, the doubt is always about something that is positive. Have you noticed that? We doubt the honesty of a person but we never doubt the dishonesty of a person.
If someone asks you, ‘are you happy?’ We doubt, we say, ‘well, I am not sure’, but we never doubt our depression. Isn’t it so? Our doubt is always about something that is positive. So, see from that angle also.

Q: Dear Guruji, how to build a real pure relationship with others.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Best not to try to build any relationship. Just be yourself. Be natural and be simple. Relationships develop naturally.
If you try to build a relationship that is when you become a little artificial. Then your behavior becomes artificial which is not natural.
Just imagine someone is trying to impress you, don’t you notice that?
If someone is trying to impress you, what do you do? You move away.
See what you like, that is what others like as well. You like someone to be very honest, open, natural, unassuming with you, correct?! That is exactly what others also want from you.
Suppose you are a boss, what type of assistants or subordinates would you like? Someone who is open! Right? And that is also what your boss wants.
Don’t try hard to impress your boss, or impress your girl friend or boy friend. Then everything goes bad. Best is to be yourself, to be natural, to be forgiving and to be in the present moment. It makes a big difference.

Q: What to do when everything seems to be grey, dry and without a purpose. Sometimes I feel all out of love.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: That is when you read knowledge.
I have made a number of knowledge books and CDs. Ashtavakra Gita knowledge is so precious, and meditation. These two things will help. And if there is a silence course like this anywhere, just go and attend. When everything is dry, this infuses the juice back in life.

Q: How did great souls become great and how can we become great souls?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You don’t need to do a great job to become great. You need to do small things perfectly to become great. Be simple and natural, and then great things will simply happen through you. Got it? And you don’t need to be famous in order to do great things. Greatness is inherent in you. It is in you like a seed.

Q: Why have there not been female masters, prophets or famous disciples. I have heard only about male masters, but very few female masters?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Vacancy is there! There is vacancy, you can become one.

Q: Could you talk about healing please?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Healing happens! When the energy is high and when there is love, healing automatically happens.

Q: Dear Guruji, what to do when my spouse always wants to be the boss and chases me up? I love him very much but he makes me restless.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: A gentleman was asked, ‘who is the boss of the house?’
He said, ‘Me! But I have the permission from my wife to say so.’ So the wife had to give permission for him to say, ‘I am the boss.’
You be the boss, but be very subtle. There is a secret about relationships.
One is, you should never make your husband feel small. If you tell your husband, ‘you are vegetable, you are good for nothing. You are a lazy goose!’ His self esteem goes down and he really becomes good for nothing. So however hopeless or weak he is, you should always tell him that he is the best. You should pump his ego. The whole world may say that he has no brains, but you should not say that. As a spouse you should say, ‘you have the best brains in the world. Just because you don’t use it, doesn’t mean that you don’t have it.’
‘So you just don’t use it, that’s all. You have fresh unused brain.’ That is what you should say.
In the same way for women, you should never pour cold water on her emotions. For women, emotional bonding is very important. You should never complain about her parents, her father or her mother or sisters or brothers. If she complains, you keep quiet, don’t say anything. No comment, because if you side them also, you will be in trouble and if you oppose them also, you will be in trouble.
If you oppose her parents, you will be in trouble and if you side with them, she will feel left out. ‘You don’t understand me’, she would start yelling and shouting.
Either way you are in trouble, so keep quiet. Simply move away from there or change the topic.
And if she wants to go for shopping, just give her your credit card. She may have ten pairs of shoes; she may go for the eleventh pair of shoes. If you question why, ‘you don’t have 11 pairs of legs so why do you buy so many pairs of shoes?’, then she will be upset. So for shopping, you should not object.

Q: How do I know if the woman in my heart really loves me 100%?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: I have no idea, nor do you have any idea. Just take a chance. Even if it is 90%, it is good enough.
Suppose someone asks you the same question, what would you say? You cannot guarantee your own love to someone 100%. May be this moment, yes, but what is the guarantee next month. I tell you, you cannot guarantee your own mind. You don’t know your own mind. How do you expect someone to know someone else’s mind? When you have no control over your own mind, you try to control somebody else’s mind. It’s impossible!
Just know one thing; whatever is yours will always be yours. Whatever moves away from you was never yours even before.
This is a very good proverb, ‘Whatever is yours will always be yours. Anything that goes away was never yours.’
So, if you know this, you will be at peace.

If you feel freedom from within, and feel the peace, then the whole world belongs to you. Everyone is yours. But the lack of it, however hard you try to own somebody, they will just slip away.
That is why this spiritual knowledge is so essential. This knowledge can not only bring you the inner strength, but also make you the centre of your universe. You will be so centered, and everything will come to you naturally.

In the 2nd chapter of Bhagavad Gita, there is a beautiful verse that says, ‘One who is established in the higher consciousness, all the desires and all the fulfillment will come towards him like the river flows to the ocean.’
How natural, isn’t it? All the rivers, they flow into the ocean. In the same way, all the desires get fulfilled into one who is a Yogi.
That is why, do yoga, meditation and be in the spiritual knowledge. Then everything will come to you. Not to the one who is galloping behind desires. To that person, who gallops, runs behind desires, nothing gets into their hands.
So, let go and take refuge in the quiet corner of your heart. Then everything will be yours. This is very true.

Q: I feel that I can’t live these values at my workplace. Do I need to change my Job?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No! You can create these values at your workplace.
Don’t worry, stand up and keep talking to people. For a couple of days, they may think you are crazy and you are talking something crazy, never mind! You continue talking. They will start realizing and they will start accepting.

When I first came to west, people thought I was crazy. What I was talking didn’t get into anybody’s head, but I kept coming and everyone enjoyed it. So, the same will happen with you at your workplace.
You keep talking about the knowledge and about transformation.

See, twenty years ago, I remember, when anybody spoke about vegetarian food or planting more tress, or environment, people would ridicule it. Does anyone remember that?
When someone would speak about a clean environment, or no plastic, people would say, ‘this is stupid. They have no sense. It is impossible’
Thirty years ago, if someone would say you should not smoke, people would say, ‘this is absurd.’
You were considered not to be in the mainstream if you don’t smoke.
Every seat in an airplane had an ashtray. And at the place where there is the seat belt sign, the smoking sign would come on as well, for passengers to not smoke during take-off and landing. Otherwise people would smoke. Only three to four rows in the front were of non-smoking. Rest were all for smokers.
It didn’t make any sense because the air will come from the back to the front as well.
In those days, if you were a non-smoker, you were considered unfashionable. I am talking about some thirty five years ago. But today, all the airplanes in the world have banned smoking. There is no ashtray in any airplane, isn’t it?

So, in the same way, you keep talking about these values, about meditation.
In those days, sitting cross-legged and meditating would mean that you are someone who is out there. Someone who is in mainstream would not do it.
But today, you see all the big companies, when they are marketing relaxation, they put a picture of someone meditating.
All the companies advertise on yoga and meditation. So things are changing.

So you have the power to change your workplace. Don’t run away. Be in the place, and dose by dose talk to them about these values. They will change.
We have courses designed just for the corporate sector. There are people who can go and learn them, and there are teachers who can teach at corporations. Many corporations today are doing this course. As we are talking, the company called ‘Bosch’, they are having two courses. All the top executives are doing the course in Bangalore in two batches. I just got an SMS. They have come to the ashram in Bangalore.
So many companies are doing these courses and the atmosphere at workplaces is changing.

Even in airlines; I remember some twenty five years ago, people from Lufthansa came and attended our course. Some people from British airways attended our course. And today they have put a guided meditation in the airplane. Channel 13 on Lufthansa has put a meditation in English and in German.
Though I don’t agree to everything they say there. They are not so precise but there is some relaxation.. It is not perfect, but something is better than nothing. A lot of imagination and a lot of effort have been put, but nevertheless, there is something to that effect.

So the world is changing. You can bring a change at your workplace, don’t run away.
If you want to change your job for any other reason, you can do it. If you are getting paid better somewhere else, then definitely change. But not because the people around are bad, that you run away, no!
If people around you are bad then that is all the more reason for you to be there, because you are the hope. You can bring the change there.

Q: I am doing reasonably okay in life in terms of work, family etc. I am also doing a little bit for society in terms of education. But I feel I am capable of doing more for society. I don’t know how to go about it. Please guide.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: You need to come along with Art of Living’s work. We have a lot to do. We will need you there, definitely.
We are building our first University in India, where I want to give the best of East and best of West to children. We have all the best of knowledge from here and the best from the East, because there are a lot of good things in the east and a lot of not so good things also. Same in the West.
So we want to choose the real best of East and West together to bring a complete transformation in human consciousness.
So we need a lot of help from you all.
We need people who can help in fund raising, people who can sponsor children. We need people who can help in building the buildings. There are a lot of things that can happen there. So you are most welcome to be part of this venture.

Q: I feel I am a very loving person and I have a lot of love to give. All I ever wanted was to get married and have my own family and children, but it hasn’t happened even after so many years. How can I attract love and marriage to manifest in my life?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Well, I don’t know.
Not that there are no loving people, not that there are no single men and women. There are, but may be you are too choosy. If you think you are very loving, you find the other person not so loving. You’ll try to find faults in others. So anyone whom you meet, you think, ‘this is not right, he doesn’t look good’, or, ‘he’s too tall’, or, ‘he is too short’, or, ‘he is bald’, or, ‘he has too much hair’.
If you start judging everybody, finding some fault, I don’t know how you will be able to find a husband. Someone asked me the other day, ‘I want to be with the perfect man.’
I said, ‘okay, you will find a perfect man but he will want a perfect woman also, which you are not. So what will you do?’ A perfect man would want a perfect woman. Are you perfect? When you are not perfect, why do you insist on perfection in others? Do you see, sometimes we think in the air. We are not practical and that is why things don’t move towards us. We should move away from over-perfectionism. When you have this over-perfectionism, you get annoyed very easily and you get angry for small things. You get upset about nothing at all. You become so emotional. And if you throw your tantrums like that, then nobody would like to be with you. They get scared.
So when you are centered, when you are choice less, then everything happens in your way.

Q: When we see you in satsang or in Kriya, we feel high, but how to get that high always?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Forget about always.
When you take shower, you feel that warmth or coolness. Shower is for sometime only, but that shower keeps you clean the whole day. Isn’t it?
If you say you want to always be in the shower, then you have to be a fish. You can be in the water all the time.
Even a few satsangs and Kriyas that uplift your energy is good. It’s natural in the world. Energy comes in waves, you feel high and then when you go back in market, the level goes down. And then you go and watch a movie, it goes further down. It happens! You know, just watch the faces of people who come out of the movie theatre, they look like zombies. They don’t come with brilliant shining eyes or with a brilliant face or with high energy. They don’t have that high enthusiastic energy. Because of two hours of sitting and watching, they feel so dull and tired. These things happen.
So energy level is never steady. It goes in waves, up and down. And doing all the practices, coming to satsangs, keep it more or less on the high note, okay!
We shouldn’t mind if it goes down sometime, otherwise that becomes another worry, ‘Oh my energy is down.’ Got it? And turn back and see in your own life, how it has been? As you are attending meditations, satsangs, steadily there is certain stability in your energy level too.

Q: I am an emotional eater. When I am sad, depressed, angry, I automatically start eating and eating. How to control this as I am gaining on a lot of weight?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. I don’t want to give you any ideas or suggestions now. Do you know why? Because you will forget them, and when you remember, you will feel even worse, ‘Oh no, I didn’t follow those instructions.’ Right?
When you feel upset, you know what will be good? Put on some music and just dance. Even if it is sad music never mind, just dance. When you dance, you will put on less weight and you will lose what you have. Okay! At least at that time you will eat less.
Maybe after finishing the dance, you may feel more hungry and eat more.
Unless you determine yourself to do something about it, nobody can do anything about it. So on your own, you have to come to a conclusion.

Q: While meditating, is it normal for your body to jerk?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: Yes. It is ok. It is good.

Q: Guruji, I have a very important and difficult question. Can you say something about not wanting to eat enough and eating only super healthy food and having too much discipline? What is the cause and how to solve this?
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: If you are always eating super healthy food, sometimes your body loses it capacity to adjust and your immune system becomes a little weak. So you should make your body flexible. Sometimes you can eat not too healthy food. I am not saying eat unhealthy, don’t eat unhealthy food, but it doesn’t have to be organic all the time. Sometime you can also eat non organic food, doesn’t matter. Your body has the ability to adjust to every situation. Don’t make it super sensitive. Do you see what I am saying?
You know people in poor areas, slums especially, I am talking about India; they are so much stronger. Their immune system is very strong and their body is like steel. You will be surprised. People who are in urban areas, their system is a little weak. You catch cold, you get cough when you go to some polluted areas. But these people who live in slums, they are so robust. Their immune system is so strong, because it is active. It is very strange but true. People in unhygienic places are healthier.
Not everywhere, I won’t say everywhere, but in some places they are much healthier and their system is much stronger.
Same if you got to Brazil and you walk in their favelas, the slum. You will see that they are quiet strong, macho men, and they live in slums near Rio de Janeiro. I have seen it; I have walked into those slums. They don’t appear as slums. There are quite healthy and strong people.
So you don’t need to sensitize your body to super healthy food all the time. Follow the middle path. Take healthy food most of the time but sometime be used to other food as well.

Q: I feel this practice makes me feel even more lonely rather than expanding my sense of belongingness. Please advice.
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar: No! Come on, wake up!
It can give you that sort of feeling just in the beginning, but it will pass. You just be with it, be with that loneliness. Go deep into it and you will find that it is giving you so much more strength.