From: rmcguckin@parra.catholic.org.au   
      
   Congregation Gems 1   
      
   Dear Brothers and Sisters   
      
   Welcome to Congregation Gems.  This is a new series for inspiration   
   and upliftment.  It is particularly suitable for those persons   
   giving talks or sermons to   their congregation and brings uplifting   
   thoughts to the listener - so bringing them closer to God.   
      
   Each edition will contain short pieces which you can slot or adjust   
   into any of your talks and sermons.  All discourses are from the   
   works of the inspiring spiritual teacher Shrii Shrii Anandamurti.   
      
   Dharma   
      
   SPIRITUAL OUTLOOK - I   
      
   *            Through all works, big and small, humanity has to be   
   awakened. Humanity in its fullest sense is Divinity, and its   
   perfection is Godhood. The aspirant must not forget this even for a   
   moment.   
   (Carya'carya II, 8)   
      
   *           Whatever you speak or do,   
               Forget Him never;   
               Keeping His name in your heart,   
               Work, remembering it is for Him   
               And, endlessly active, drift in bliss.   
   (Carya'carya II, 8)   
      
   *          The world is a panorama of endless movement, a vast   
   assemblage of rainbow colours. If upon seeing it, people think that   
   they have really attained something permanent, or become intoxicated   
   with the colours, they will make a great mistake. People are   
   attracted to minute portions of things on this earth, and embracing   
   them, seek the path of self-gratification. But long before they   
   attain satisfaction, those minute portions, those colours, vanish   
   into nothingness, leaving them in endless frustration and   
   lamentation, like blind, headless demons. This is not a decree of   
   God, it is the consequential law of the universe.   
      
   The Supreme Cognitive Principle, which is the only knowable entity   
   for all other beings, is the sole permanent entity. To attain   
   something permanent, one must not run after the petty pleasures of   
   the world. Rather, knowing that eternal Entity, that permanent   
   Entity, to be the only goal of life, one has to propel all one's   
   mental propensities towards Him. One must not waste one's   
   potentialities mistaking the temporal for the eternal.   
      
   All created objects are sitting in the midst of the multitude of   
   finite things, and with the help of a finite unit mind, it is   
   impossible, either in theory or in practice, to think of the   
   Infinite. When the mind becomes intoxicated with the thought of the   
   Infinite, then the finite mind transcends its own limits and loses   
   itself in a state of endless peace. This is the highest attainment.   
   (Namah Shiva'ya Sha'nta'ya, 134)   
      
      
   *          The innumerable structures which arise as a result of the   
   countless vibrational undulations of the Supreme Entity, have on the   
   one hand enlivened every step of creation with restless vitality and   
   blissful sweetness - and on the other, given scope for the mistaken   
   understanding of Him as many, not One. From this mistake arises all   
   life's delicious sweetness, its spicy flavours - and also its   
   piercing bitter scorpion stings, its heart-rending moans of grief.   
   Hence in One we see many, in all their perfections and imperfections   
   in all their sweetness and bitterness, all due to the special role   
   of the sense organs.   
      
   In the first stage of human life, when people notice the colourful   
   processions of various inferential waves such as form, taste, smell,   
   colour, touch, etc they immediately become attracted towards them.   
   The entire universe appears to be a grand caravan of many colours:   
   it seizes their senses and their minds rush after it, taking it to   
   be the goal of life. In the first stage this enchanting material   
   panorama propels people from their inner world to external life. If   
   at that stage, someone tells them to move towards the internal   
   world, they become irritated and annoyed. They think "Oh, I'm quite   
   fine here!" Blending their colours with the colours of all,   
   strolling on soft carpets of green grass, they think, "All these   
   things are meant for me!"   
      
   This material-oriented existence is the first stage of human life.   
   At this stage, one wants to express only one thing with the whole of   
   one's being, and that is, "I exist, only I exist."   
      
   Trials and tribulations compel people to ponder deeply; sorrows   
   inspire them to analyse the law of cause and effect. Their wounded   
   hearts want to be soothed with a healing balm from an Entity greater   
   than themselves. They realize then that there is a greater Entity   
   than their little selves. Whatever might be their relation with that   
   Entity, and whether that Entity is within their reach or not, they   
   cherish the hope of gaining something from Him: they cry out, "Save   
   me, protect me!" Then they change their mental tune and say, "I   
   exist, You also exist."   
      
   When this relationship of hope and fulfilment fails to remove their   
   internal dissatisfactions, when the greenness of the external world   
   fails to moisten the desert of their minds, when the seeds of their   
   desires do not sprout, then they realize that they will have to go   
   still deeper inside and the key to the solution lies deeper within.   
   They are still within locked doors and windows; in search of the   
   key, they move inwards, but they are unable to find it. They do not   
   feel that they are even near a guide - far less in close   
   association. Concentrating all their mental anguish, they begin to   
   shed tears in their minds and, beating their heads, say to the   
   unknown Lord of their life:   
      
               I have spent my life in vain;   
               Such a great Lord I did not worship -   
               I lost the greatest jewel.   
               I am indeed an unfortunate creature;   
               I never enjoyed   
               Even a drop of nectar   
               Of the love of God.   
      
   The Supreme Consciousness is the Supreme Cognitive Faculty; nothing   
   is outside Him. He too feels the inner agony of despairing people in   
   the core of His heart, and shows them the soothing path of   
   enlightenment. Then those despairing people cry out in the   
   exuberance of their joy, "You exist, Oh Lord, I also exist!"   
      
   They continue to move into the inner world. The charming allurements   
   of the external world no longer keep their minds in thrall. The   
   dazzling splendour of form and colour, their glittering attraction,   
   no longer evokes any response in the inner most recesses of their   
   minds. The radiance of the colourful world and the effulgence of   
   their inner life become one. Just as -   
      
               Prasad says, what you were in the beginning;   
               You will become in the end -   
               Just as bubbles rising from the water   
               Into the water will merge again.   
      
   And further--   
      
               The pot is in the water;   
               The water is in the pot.   
               Water inside and outside.   
               If the pot is broken, the waters become one -   
               Only the wise understand this great idea.   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)