Welcome to Spiritual Insights, a website containing insights on spirituality and inspiration from various sources.
Sunil Dutt (passed away yesterday) was recovering from an accident that had paralysed half of his body... "For two months, I could not get up from the bed. But I always wore a smile for visitors. They would comment hesitantly, 'It doesn't look like anything is wrong with you'. I would grin in reply, 'My lower half is immobile. My face is not, so why should that stop me from smiling?' "
1. Everything changes and ends.
2. Things do not always go according to plan.
3. Life is not always fair.
4. Pain is part of life.
5. People are not loving and loyal all the time.
-- "The Five Things We Cannot Change ... and the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them"
a book by David Richo, Ph.D.
We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.
-- Winston Churchill
- By doing selfless service, we get closer to other people, undertand their difficulties and become more compassionate. This is a step towards removing barriers between us and them.
- Seva is a not a duty but an opportunity. Only selected ones get a chance to help others.
- We don't know what circumstances we will go through tomorrow, those who we are helping today may help us tomorrow.
-- Paraphrased from a speech on Seva by Ms. Grewal in Sikh Heritage Dinner.
Labels: seva
getting rid of clutter and simplicity brings out creativity in us and make our spiritual journy easier.
Here are 6 C's for getting rid of clutter:
Clear items that don't belong where they are
Confine: define a place for everything
Control the flow of items
Clean
Communicate with others what goes where
Continue the process
Meditation is continuous thought about something; it is used to bring back the mind to the goal.
Mantra, a motto, a slogan is the vehicle to keep the mind on right track.
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If we don't stand for something, we will fall for everything.
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The three qualities of human beings
Sattvic: noble e.g. true love
Rajas: mediocre e.g. worship, rituals
Tamas: impure (dull) e.g. evil spirit
We arrive to this world as shoppers. We have a limited amount to spend, once we ran out, no-one can replenish us. There are many shops to shop from, it's our responsibility to recognize the quality product. Guru's shop is always open and he is always eager to show us his products with no strings attached and no background checks. Window-shopping is not enough, we need to purchase the product and stop wasting our wealth in other shops...
Inspired by a lecture by Prof. Darshan Singh http://www.ggsacademy.com
Labels: Sikhism
... Conditioned by the mind, the Self appears to be mortal, finite, limited. The Self clothed in the mind is the ego, jiva.
This ego, thoughtlessly assuming an independent and separate existence for itself, naturally sees the whole world as mighty, endless array of things and beings, of circumstances and situations-all of them inimical to itself. It feels lonely, in its loneliness it is overwhelmed by fear. To assure its own security, the ego thereafter builds mighty phantom-fortresses around itself with frail wealth, impermanent name, flimsy fame, disloyal relations, and undependable friends, and maintains a thousand treacherous relationships with a million things and beings. But still, the ego feels insecure, freightended, lonely, unhappy, and altogther etirely cheated!
...
from chapter 13 "The Other Shore of Samsara"
Meditation and Life by Swami Chinmayananda http://www.chinmayamission.org
Labels: ego