Spiritual Inspiration from Flowers

January 17 is celebrated as the International Flowers' Day.

Let's draw spiritual inspirations from various flowers and become like flowers, which spread out fragrance to please and satisfy all.

The Fragrance of Virtues

• The rose is the king of flowers. Hence, let's also become a king of ourselves and spread the fragrance of virtues!

• The night flower blooms only in the night. Instead, let's keep blooming with a sparkling smile on our lips always.

• The hibiscus flower is offered to Shri Ganesh. Hence, let's become pure and divine like the deities.

• The jasmine flower is very fragrant, Hence, let's keep spreading the elevated vibrations of divine virtues all around.

Best Practices

The flower keeps giving its fragrance to each hand that touches it anywhere and everywhere. Similarly, let's always remain stabilized in the experience of our original virtues, irrespective of the external challenges.

• The touch-me-not, mimosa, flower shrinks with the slightest of touches. Hence, let's shrink ourselves from anything, which is waste or negative.

• The lotus grows in the mud, yet remains above the surface of the water, which denotes living in this world, yet remaining protected from its negative influences, thereby being empowered to make a positive influence all around.

The Magic of God’s Love

• Like the sunflower, let's keep leaning towards the Supreme God, to become full of all the virtues and powers.

• The Ak flower is offered on the Shiva Linga. Hence, even if we have no quality, we can definitely surrender ourselves to God.

Hence, let's remain in the awareness of being a king over the self, thereby always be smiling, joyous and divine (i.e. full of positivity and free from negativities). By doing this, we will automatically bring the divine land – Satyuga – on this earth once again.

Release Your Expectations

     You always assisted a colleague to finish his project in time; but, when you asked him for a favour, he refused. You reached home tired and expected your young child to behave well; but, he threw tantrums the entire evening. Are these situations familiar or have you been in similar situations and wondered: Why can't people meet simple expectations? Why can't they be as I expect?

Our habits, personalities, perspectives, choices and priorities are different. So, we cannot always act in the same way as others, irrespective of our authority, role or responsibility. It also doesn't matter how simple and right our expectation is.

Release expectations from everyone – family members, friends, colleagues and people of the society. Let us be on our way, accepting everyone as they are. We accept, advise, instruct and share opinion respectfully; but, we should not get upset if people don't meet our expectations.

Let us drop the belief that expectations are normal and hold the belief that acceptance is normal. It helps us remain emotionally stable in every situation and have harmonious relationships. No two individuals can think, speak or behave identically. Yet, we routinely wonder: How can he be like this? or Why did she say that?

The load of such futile thoughts and expectations block our energy of love and peace. Let us remember that our state of mind has no connection with anyone or anything outside of us. Sit back and program your thoughts and feelings about other people.

Do not succumb, do not hit back, do not expect, do not blame and do not complain. Take charge of your inner state and choose your response. In this way, you come out of impulsive, auto-piloted reactions to people's behaviours.

Your acceptance, that people are different can sustain your happiness and influence them positively.

Pause, Choose & Respond

        There are things coming to us from outside, and those that we are sending out. Situations and people come from outside, so what we get from them is not in our control. But, what goes out from us such as our thoughts, words and behaviour in response, are always our choice.

We think someone else caused our happiness, anger, pain or fear as we are in a habit of blaming. Also we are not aware that our response is our internal creation. Let's consciously choose to respond with peace, calmness and happiness today.

Nobody else can create our emotions or make us feel a certain way. We create them but wrongly believe others are responsible for how we feel. No emotion is obvious and no response is natural.

Let's take personal responsibility of our thoughts, feelings and behaviour. He wronged me so I was obviously upset, Her behaviour angered me: these words should not be part of our vocabulary. Our situations do not determine our happiness; our response to the situation determines it. The response begins with the thoughts our mind creates.

Feeding the mind with good thoughts to begin the day is like planting healthy seeds in a fertile space. The outer environment is often a reflection of our thoughts. We reap the fruits of happy thoughts that attract happy experiences.

Sit back and programme your mind for a perfect day. Set the foundation of emotional stability to build your responses. Situations and people can be imperfect but your state of mind should remain perfect, calm, happy and peaceful. Your thoughts, words and actions should radiate positive vibrations, influence people and situations, and attract more peace and happiness.

Overthinking to Positive thinking, BK Shivani's letter

Overthinking to Positive thinking, BK Shivani's letter

Question was asked via Email about - 'How to stop overthinking and complaining about life?' and follow a positive aproach with enthusiasm.

Original Question via Email:

Dear mam

Namaste

myself xyz...from past many many years there has been problem of being suffering from overthinking. So i would give th e problems list...i am not able to decide which one of these is the major cause.

-- overly critical, compalining, never happy,

eating is the pure joy

easily bored

easily give up

feels down , irritated

people say i need to rectif..i also feel in some way..although i consciously apply some rules...but not able to sustain for longer...easily hurt. I dont know where i actually stand

mainintaing discipline is a problem for me..

if u receive the mail please revert back.

mam please tell the main cause root of the problem..or let me know any no on which i can call u

keeping the faith i am writing the mail. hoping for solution

thanks

yours sincerely - 'anonymous'

Response from BK Shivani:

From: BK Shivani, Prajapita Brahma Kumari Ishwariya Vishwa Vidhyalay

To: Kashish

You have described your insight about your nature. You asked for the reason or the root cause of this feelings.

If you think deeply, the root of this is 'laziness'. See, you make rules, and then could not follow. When you critize situation, etc, then this means you had no clue that this can happen in future. If I have a clue, that this can happen, then I would definitely take precautions to avoid..

How to avoid? - Far sight is needed. When you take an important decision, you should think of future.

2. Why can you not follow the rules you made for yourself?

For example, we BK (brahmins) are to folow a spiritual law - wake up early in monring no late than 4 am. BUT many of us cannot follow. Why?

Reason:

We know that this is most important for self transformation. 4 am is called as Amritvela time (best time). In this time, we sit in Raja Yog (meditation). In early morning, everyone is sleeping and all minds are at rest. Hence the atmosphere is pure and peaceful. This is the best time to do any productive work. Best for self insight.

BUT, even when we know this all, we have not realised this. We do not give importance. We may think - even if i wake up late, i feel okay. Nothing more is needed. Same for you - If you take a decision - you should first completely understanding the IMPORTANCE of that decision (rule) for your benefit.

Then you should take steps:

1. Understand the IMPORTANCE

2. Prepare the timetable for yourself (Sunday to Saturday)

3. Wake up early morning if possible. Site for meditation (with guided commentaries- Visit this page)

4. Sincerely observe yourself for atleast 1 DAY. See that you follow ALL the princles set by you.

5. Encourage yourself.

And yes, when you wake up early, after guided meditation, practice this Swaman (Hindi): https://youtu.be/rLJcvUcuMsE

Swaman is extreme benefit to the mind. Swaman means true self respect. Listen swaman commentaries for about 15 mins daily morning.

Doing all this is important. All 5 steps.

Tell us your progress via this email after 14 days of practice.

As A Man Thinketh Summary - EFFECTS OF THOUGHTS ON HEALTH AND BODY

Chapter 3

EFFECTS OF THOUGHTS ON HEALTH AND BODY

 

 

The body is a delicate and plastic

instrument, which responds readily to the

thoughts by which it is impressed, and

habits of thought will produce their own

effects, good or bad, upon it.

  

 

The body is the servant of the mind. With unlawful thoughts the body sinks into disease and decay. with glad and beautiful thoughts it becomes clothed with youthfulness & beauty. Thoughts of fear can kill the body. Anxiety quickly demoralizes the whole body, opening it to disease, while impure thoughts will shatter the nervous system. Strong pure and happy thoughts build up the body in vigor and grace.
The habits of thoughts will produce their effects -- good or bad -- upon the body. Thought is the fount of action, life, and manifestation. Make the fountain' pure and all will be pure.
If you would perfect your body, guard your mind. If you would renew your body, beautify your mind. Thoughts of malice, envy, and disappointment, rob the body of its health and grace. A bright, happy, and serene countenance follows from thoughts of joy, goodwill and serenity. To continually live in thoughts of ill-will, cynicism, suspicion and envy, is to be confined in a self-made prison.
To think well of all, to be cheerful with all, to find the good in all -- such unselfish thoughts are the very portals of heaven.

—

As A Man Thinketh Summary - EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON CIRCUMSTANCES

Chapter 2

EFFECT OF THOUGHT ON CIRCUMSTANCES

 

The human Will, that force unseen,
The offspring of a deathless Soul
Can hew a way to any goal,
Though walls of granite intervene. 


A man's mind may be likened to a garden – cultivated or uncultivated. The cultivated produces flowers & fruit, while the uncultivated produces weeds. A man must continually weed-out all wrong, useless, and impure thoughts and deliberately cultivate right, useful, and pure thoughts.
Thought and character are one, and character has a profound influence on the circumstances of one's life. If a man learns the spiritual lesson of his current circumstances they will give way to other circumstances.
As long as a man believes he is a creature of external conditions he will be buffeted by those conditions. When he practices self-control and self-purification of thought, and remedies his defects of character, he finds that his circumstances will change.
The soul attracts that which it secretly harbors -- its loves and fears. The soul reaches the height of its cherished aspirations and the depth of its unchastened desires. Every thought-seed allowed to take root in a man's mind will eventually produce the fruit of character and opportunity and circumstance.
Good thoughts bear good fruit, bad thoughts bad fruit.

 
Let a man cease from his sinful thoughts, and all the world will soften towards him, and be ready to help him; let him put away his weakly and sickly thoughts, and lo, opportunities will spring up on every hand to aid his strong resolves; let him encourage good thoughts, and no hard fate shall bind him down to wretchedness and shame. The world is your kaleidoscope, and the varying combinations of colours, which at every succeeding moment it presents to you are the exquisitely adjusted pictures of your ever-moving thoughts.

“So You will be what you will to be; Let failure find its false content In that poor word, ‘environment,’ But spirit scorns it, and is free.

“It masters time, it conquers space; It cowes that boastful trickster, Chance, And bids the tyrant Circumstance Uncrown, and fill a servant’s place.

“The human Will, that force unseen, The offspring of a deathless Soul, Can hew a way to any goal, Though walls of granite intervene.

“Be not impatient in delays But wait as one who understands; When spirit rises and commands The gods are ready to obey.”

—

 

 

 

James Allen Quotes (Author of As a Man Thinketh) - PositiveMan

James Allen > Quote

James Allen quotes

 “A man's mind may be likened to a garden, which may be intelligently cultivated or allowed to run wild; but whether cultivated or neglected, it must, and will, bring forth. If no useful seeds are put into it, then an abundance of useless weed seeds will fall therein, and will continue to produce their kind.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh  

 

“Self-control is strength. Right thought is mastery. Calmness is power. ”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh 

 

“A strong man cannot help a weaker unless the weaker is willing to be helped, and even then the weak man must become strong of himself; he must, by his own efforts, develop the strength which he admires in another. None but himself can alter his condition.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh   

 

“The outer conditions of a person's life will always be found to be harmoniously related to his inner state...Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh 

 

“As he thinks, so he is; as he continues to think, so he remains.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

  

“A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“A person is limited only by the thoughts that he chooses.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“A man only begins to be a man when he ceases to whine and revile, and commences to search for the hidden justice which regulates his life. And he adapts his mind to that regulating factor, he ceases to accuse others as the cause of his condition, and builds himself up in strong and noble thoughts; ceases to kick against circumstances, but begins to use them as aids to his more rapid progress, and as a means of the hidden powers and possibilities within himself.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“Cherish your visions.
Cherish your ideals.
Cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts.
For out of them will grow all delightful conditions, all heavenly environment, of these, if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“The more tranquil a man becomes, the greater is his success, his influence, his power for good. Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.”
― James Allen

“You are today where your thoughts have brought you;
you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you.”
― James Allen

“He who would accomplish little need sacrifice little; he who would achieve much must sacrifice much. He who would attain highly must sacrifice greatly.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.”
― James Allen

“Men are anxious to improve their circumstances, but are unwilling to improve themselves.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“Do not dwell upon the sins and mistakes of yesterday so exclusively as to have no energy and mind left for living rightly today, and do not think that the sins of yesterday can prevent you from living purely today.”
― James Allen, Byways of Blessedness

“The dreamers are the saviors of the world. As the visible world is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their solitary dreamers.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“As a man thinketh in his heart, so shall he be”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results; bad thoughts
and actions can never produce good results … We understand this law in
the natural world, and work with it; but few understand it in the mental
and moral world—although its operation there is just as simple and undeviating—
and they, therefore, do not cooperate with it.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“A particular train of thought persisted in, be it good or bad, cannot fail to produce its results on the character and circumstances. A man cannot directly choose his circumstances, but he can choose his thoughts, and so indirectly, yet surely, shape his circumstances.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“The world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going”
― James Allen

“A noble and God-like character is not a thing of favor or chance, but is the natural result of continued effort in right thinking, the effect of long-cherished association with God-like thoughts.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“To Desire is to Obtain to Aspire is to Achieve”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“Calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom. It is the result of long and patient effort in self-control. Its presence is an indication of ripened experience, and of a more than ordinary knowledge of the laws and operations of thought.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“The visions you glorify in your mind,
The ideals you enthrone in your heart..
This you will build your life by...
This you will become.”
― James Allen

“A man becomes calm in the measure that he understands himself as a thought-evolved being. For such knowledge necessitates the understanding of others as the result of thought, and as he develops a right understanding, and sees ever more clearly the internal relations of things by the action of cause and effect, he ceases to fuss, fume, worry, and grieve. He remains poised, steadfast, serene.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“All that a man achieves and all that he fails to achieve is the direct result of his own thoughts.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“There can be no progress nor achievement without sacrifice, and a man's worldly success will be by the measure that he sacrifices his confused animal thoughts, and fixes his mind on the development of his plans, and the strengthening of his resolution and self-reliance.”
― James Allen, As a Man Thinketh

“The law of harvest is to reap more than you sow. Sow an act, and you reap a habit. Sow a habit and you reap a character. Sow a character and you reap a destiny. ”
― James Allen

“Man is made or unmade by himself. By the right choice he ascends. As a being of power, intelligence, and love, and the lord of his own thoughts, he holds the key to every situation...”
― James Allen