Brahma Kumaris

21.09.15 Story of Cinderella: Despite her circumstances, she refuses to despair. Her Fairy Godmother magically appeared and transformed Cinderella from a house servant to the young lady she was by birth. She turned a pumpkin into a golden carriage, Cinderella’s rags into a beautiful jeweled gown, complete with a delicate pair of glass slippers. Magic When you want nothing, magic happens. All that you need and more arrives in your life, at the right time, in the right way. Gossip Gossip, like fire starts with a tiny spark and if fuelled, it creates a fire which spreads and spreads. If you have the habit of fueling gossip, remind yourself: relationships thrive on trust. How would you feel if others gossiped about you? Even though most of us delight in gossip, resist the urge. Try not to say anything about others which you wouldn't say to their face. And when someone else starts to gossip, say you're not interested or you're not comfortable discussing it. Alternatively, you can just opt out of the conversation or change the topic. The Triangle Of Spiritual Energy (cont.) Referring to yesterday's message, in the triangle of harmonious energy, all three points (the self, the Supreme and others) need to be equidistant - not too much one way or the other. The equidistant triangle in ancient mathematics was the symbol of harmony. Harmony, peace, order and balance is what is natural in human life and if we wish to return to that condition, we need to realize the importance of equidistant relationships. It requires constant attention to keep the three points in balance and in working order. Otherwise, when we get over-focused on any one of the three, we become inflexible. This inflexibility causes us to go out of balance and the result is disharmony and disunity, which can also be called violence, an unnatural condition, or even hell when it reaches an extreme point. In order to maintain a balance between the three, I need silence: times of introspection when I can check the flow of three of my relationships - with the self, Supreme Source and others. This checking mechanism protects, sustains and develops the qualities of these three points. Soul Sustenance Becoming Aware Of What Is Ego All of us are familiar, to different extents, with the emotion of ego. All of us don’t even define it in the same way. We are also aware to different extents, about the negative repercussions (effects) of the emotion of ego on us and on others. Depending on how aware we are about the effects, we work to eradicate the emotion from our daily lives, so that it neither disturbs us nor others. Some of us even consider it a positive emotion and feel it contributes positively to our personal and professional progress. To be aware completely of the negative effects of ego and to realize clearly whether it is a positive emotion or not in the first place, it is important to first become aware of what it is exactly. So, how can we define ego? Ego is attachment, inside my consciousness, to an incorrect image of my ‘self’ which I then mistake for myself. When the attachment takes place, you lose your sense of identity in the image of the object of attachment which you create on the screen of your mind. That object can be something physical like your body, your physical personality, a relationship, a material possession, your status, money, a particular skill, respect from others, etc. or something non-physical like a belief; an opinion; a mindset, a memory, a particular virtue, specialty, power or a sanskara (positive or negative), etc. Therefore ego is the self attaching to and identifying with an image that is not the self. This process takes place entirely within our consciousness many times in the day, on the screen of the mind. E.g. When we say this is my salary package (something physical) or my opinion (something non-physical), we are (without being aware about it) creating an image of the salary package or the opinion inside our consciousness and becoming attached to it, so that we lose our self identity in the salary package or the opinion, believing that I am the salary package or the opinion. So at that time, the salary package or the opinion becomes an incorrect image of the self to which I am attached. This is ego. If while thinking, feeling or speaking about my salary package or my opinion, we do not become attached to or do not lose our self identity in either of the two, then that is not ego. Message for the day Where there is faith there is victory Projection: When someone has faith there are no doubts or questions about the self, others or situations. Faith also enables a person to see and understand simple things in life with a new understanding. It shows direction and courage to go on. Solution: When I have faith, I experience myself to be lucky and thus receive cooperation from many others. I would also be able to experience success at every step. There is then no worry for me and am troubled less by aspects that keep changing around me. My thoughts then would always be positive and I experience victory.