Adept2u's Sunday Devotion

It's been awhile since I've done one of these and an even longer while since I've been presented with such material.  Things come to me in roundabout ways nowadays.  I found these posts on a very obscure website by an anonymous poster, makes a lot of sense to me.

"The starry sky is one of the greatest wonders of nature. But there are different ways of looking at the stars. You can take a map of the sky and an astronomy book, which gives a detailed description of everything known about the stars and the planets. This is certainly very useful for your understanding of the universe. But what will all that do for your soul and your spirit?

More importantly, how different those experiences are from the ones you can have when you’re contemplating the starry sky, when your only concern is to merge with this immensity! A peace slowly permeates you, lifting you up; your only desire is to tear yourself from the earth and be transported far away into space, so you can relate to the spiritual entities of which the stars are the physical manifestations. In the regions where you are projected, you feel that nothing is more important than to unite yourself with the cosmic Spirit, to let yourself be penetrated by it, so you can arrive at a true understanding of things, an understanding that permeates all your cells.

"Those who do not know how to control their anger are unaware it is a force from much further away trying to find a way into them. They even believe, for a moment at least, that this powerful current is communicating something of its power to them. But this is an illusion, for it is the current that is powerful and not the person it goes through. And so, after it has gone, the poor unfortunate person is left weak and trembling all over – in their jaws, their legs, their hands.

A disciple of an initiatic school understands that by controlling the anger they feel rising in them and seeking to transform it they acquire true power. And it is the same with sexual energy: we are considerably strengthened by controlling it. That is why the initiates, who have learned to control their aggressive as well as their sexual instinct, have so much energy for thinking and speaking, with the purpose of enlightening others."

"Many people reason the way a mouse might, as it moves towards a mousetrap that has a tempting piece of bacon in it… The mouse suspects there’s some danger, but it thinks it can go in and out very quickly. So it makes a dash for it, but the trap closes even faster and catches it. In the same way, you may say to yourself, ‘I’m very clever, I’ll manage to eat this little bit (meaning, ‘I’ll enjoy certain pleasures and give free rein to my instinctual tendencies’), nothing and no one can catch me. I’ll grab what I want and get out.’ But it’s impossible – there is a law at work here. As soon as you touch the trap, that’s it, you’re caught.

So far, no one has been able to escape nature and its mousetraps. Each time you give way to one of your base tendencies, the trap closes, and then, without knowing why, you feel ill at ease. Do not delude yourself; even the most intelligent, the cleverest of people cannot escape the laws laid down by cosmic Intelligence."

‎"What is it that makes humans leave their house to go and visit their family or friends, or to go window-shopping or for a walk in the park or in the country? It is quite simply their need to make exchanges with other human beings and with nature, because these exchanges are absolutely necessary and essential to life. 'But,' you will say, 'what about ascetics, hermits, who withdraw from the world to the desert or to caves - do they no longer make exchanges?' They do, they put an end to one kind of exchange in favour of another kind, in order to open their soul and their spirit to subtler influences.

As soon as you close yourself to one influence, you automatically open up to another. If you no longer want to see or hear anything on the physical plane, you experience another form of seeing, another form of hearing. You receive new impressions from the worlds of the soul and the spirit. Exchanges are the very foundation of life, and those who learn how to make exchanges on the spiritual plane know true life."

‎"For human beings, the words ‘life’ and ‘death’ immediately evoke the notion of physical life and death, whereas physical life and death are in fact only very limited aspects of these two processes. Although people may know what life and death are on the physical plane, they are not at all clear as to their meaning on the psychological and spiritual planes: they do not know when they are dead and when they are alive.

On the psychological and spiritual planes, it is by renouncing the lower manifestations of life that we become more and more alive. If we do not do this, what we call life is, in reality, death. Whether we do good or evil, we can always say we are alive. But we can also say that we never stop dying: if we do not die to stupidity, we will die to wisdom, and if we do not die to hate, we will die to love. Call it what you like, life and death walk together. Throughout our lives, our only choices are between life and death, between one form of life and one form of death. And what some call death, others call life."

‎"Those who believe man should not love himself are mistaken. It is normal to love yourself, for nature herself gave this instinct to her children. But you must learn to love yourself and at the same time be conscious of your worth as a son or daughter of God.

Do people truly love themselves when they eat and drink anything whatsoever and in any manner whatsoever? When they smoke, lead unbalanced lives and endlessly ruminate on destructive thoughts and feelings? No. Loving yourself means seeing to it that you allow nothing harmful to gain access to you, whether physical or psychic. By purifying yourself you prepare certain conditions so that luminous entities will come to visit you. And if you are careful not to harm others in any way, if instead you help, comfort and console others, here again you prepare conditions such that the Lord will come and make his dwelling in you and bring you all his blessings. This is how you must love yourself. "

‎"Endeavour to live well today, and everything will arrange itself harmoniously for tomorrow. Are you afraid that if you take care of today you will lose sight of your long-term objectives? Have no fear. When you are following a path, you do not keep your eyes on your feet in case you lose direction, nor do you keep looking in the distance; if you did, you would be likely to trip over an obstacle or fall into a hole.

You must also apply this method in your spiritual life. Since you know how to walk on the physical level, you must also know how to walk on the spiritual level. Watch your feet, that is to say, pay attention to everything you do throughout the day – this is of the utmost importance – and also look to your ideal, to divine perfection, so you can be sure you have not deviated from the right path."

‎"The quality of patience involves tolerance. Yes, but there are many ways of tolerating. You may be exasperated by certain actions or words, and even if you remain motionless and silent you may be boiling inside with feelings of anger and rebellion. This happens, especially when you have to be subjected to the authority of someone senior to you: even if they take advantage of the situation, you don't move, you say nothing, knowing that if you retorted you would only make matters worse. But then, you chew over your grievances for hours, you fret and it hurts. Well, that is not what patience is.

Patience, true patience, is accompanied by a sense of strength and peace, so it implies considerable previous inner work. You have to have acquired a great deal of wisdom before you can eventually be patient."

‎"When you decide to walk a spiritual path, know that there will always be people who will put obstacles in your way or try to destroy your enthusiasm. This is normal. They are incapable of understanding all the luminous, generous thoughts and feelings you are nourishing within your heart and soul. But instead of becoming discouraged and giving up your work, or brooding about the situation, you must redouble your efforts. Remember how resourceful you are, that heaven has given you all kinds of possibilities, all kinds of faculties and forces, and that it is up to you to stand fast and persevere in your task.
Why sacrifice your evolution, your inner wealth to the judgment and ill will of others? Who are they that you should bow to them? Continue to work, and one day they will be forced to recognize that it is you who are on the right path."

‎"You say you want to be happy? Then work. True happiness lies in work, but obviously in work of a higher order than that which allows people to earn a living for themselves or their family. This work is necessary, but it is not enough. In order to be happy, men and women must learn to work with thought, feeling, imagination, and will-power, in order to prepare in the invisible the coming of a world of peace, harmony, and light. It is in this work that you will find fulfilment, and whatever the circumstances may be, this work will always be there for you. Upheavals in society may deprive you of all your usual activities, but you can do this inner work everywhere, even in the most difficult conditions, even in the other world. Because no one can take your intelligence, your heart, or your will from you; these are the only true riches you can always count on. "

‎"However great the successes and victories in your inner life may be, keep your modesty. And to stay modest you must think it is not you who should be given the credit, but the Lord, who gave you these gifts, these qualities with which you were able to overcome the obstacles in your path. So, each time you have achieved something, say: ‘It is not to me, Lord, it is not to me, but to You this glory is due.' Otherwise you risk falling into the clutches of arrogance and vanity, and that has already happened to many. So when you are being congratulated, when you are being told you are wonderful, extraordinary, repeat this formula: ‘It is not to me, Lord, but to You this glory is due.' Without wanting to, other people can set traps for you. They keep singing your praises and you end up believing them, and therein lies the danger. You must work for the glory of God and if people praise you, then you must transfer this praise to Him. Only then will heaven consider you a true servant of God. And remember that your true glory is not your personal glory, but the glory of God."

‎"Speech and writing consist in putting words together by arranging and organizing them; so these are acts of creation. Every person can use words either to create joy, trust, love and light in others, or to create sadness, darkness, illness or despair, and in the latter case they are creating monsters, even if they use the best style to express themselves.

True evolution consists in learning to make use of words, either spoken or written, with a divine end in mind, in other words to use elements of the Word solely to create what is right, good and beautiful. Those who work consciously in this direction are participating in God’s work, and the day will come when they will be recruited as his workers. For creation is not yet complete, the Creator continues to work, and he needs workers to bring him stones, sand and materials, symbolically speaking. ‘That’s all we’re good for?’ you’ll ask. Yes, and don’t feel offended; it is certainly not us the Creator will choose to play the most important role, but it is glorious to participate at any level in this divine work."

‎"Feelings of discontent can be compared to a substance we can work on and alter, but only if we do so before it solidifies and becomes too resistant. Let us take an image. You have carelessly put your feet into liquid cement, and you stand there thinking about something else. The cement begins to solidify and soon becomes so hard that you find yourself trapped. Someone will have to find tools to break it apart, and you risk being injured. Well, this is what happens in the inner life. If you do not quickly correct certain mistakes and shortcomings, soon it is too late: the repairs are very expensive and may lead to further damage."

‎"Love and wisdom are the two foundations of the psychic life. Like heat, love expands consciousness, and like light, wisdom illuminates it. On the screen of your consciousness, an image may be large but blurred, or it may be very precise but very small. This is because, in the first instance, you did not know how to work with wisdom; and, in the second instance, you did not know how to work with love. Wisdom and love must be brought into play together, so that our conscience is at the same time vast and enlightened.

‎"To avoid succumbing to the temptations of evil spirits, the disciple must develop two principle qualities: discernment and humility. Discernment is a quality of the intellect, whereas humility is a quality of the heart.

Discernment allows us in any given circumstance to distinguish the true from the false, reality from appearances. It shows us the right path to follow and how to avoid pitfalls. Only good judgement protects us from mistakes and illusions.
As for humility – a quality greatly neglected and even scorned – we can only appreciate its value if we understand the dangers of its opposite attitude: pride. Pride shuts us off from the divine world, blocking the currents which bring us the living waters of heaven. This is why, as we cultivate the discernment which shows us the right path to follow, we must at the same time cultivate the humility which opens us up to the life-giving currents of the divine world, so vital to our progress along this path."

‎"‘Working according to the laws of wisdom and the methods of love – that is the programme’, said the Master Peter Deunov. Wisdom indicates the ideal we must aim for, and this programme will occupy us for all eternity. To achieve it, we must adopt the methods of love, by living each minute very attentively. The laws represent the fixed points by which we orient ourselves, and the methods are our tools. The methods of love allow us to achieve the grand aims of wisdom. Those who believe they can attain wisdom while neglecting love are mistaken: they will wither away and turn to dust.

There are numerous methods of love – they enable us to make exchanges with the whole of nature through breathing, nutrition and contemplation of the rising sun; exchanges with human beings by showing kindness, generosity and patience, and exchanges with the divine world through meditation and prayer."

‎"When you deposit money in an account, you do not expect to get interest on it the next day; you have to wait, and the longer you wait, the higher the interest. Well, exactly the same law applies on the spiritual plane. You work with considerable love, patience and trust, but to begin with you see no results. It is normal; do not become discouraged. If you give way to discouragement, it is because you still fail to decode the meaning of the laws that govern social life. Well, as you can see, to understand the laws of spiritual work, you must know the rules of banking and administration! This will help you understand that you must be in no hurry, and just work. Blessings will then shower on you from all sides. Even if you try to run away, it will be impossible; the whole universe will shower extraordinary riches on your head, because you will have brought them on yourself."

‎"We cannot deny that most people are sensitive and good-hearted, but they have a strange way of showing it. When they see an abandoned or mistreated child or poor people dying of hunger in a film or a play, they readily shed a few tears. But on their way home, when they pass a beggar whose wretched face should catch their eye and arouse their pity, they don’t even notice him. And when they get home, they are rough with their children or ignore them, when what they need is attention and tenderness. Yes, it is extraordinary: at the cinema or the theatre people are sensitive, they are touched, but faced with the same thing in life they too often close their eyes and their heart.

Humans still have a lot to learn about true sensitivity and how to express it… to say nothing of their sensitivity towards the divine world! How many are capable of shedding tears before the beauty of the divine world, of experiencing such overwhelming emotion that their whole being is reborn, purified and regenerated?"

‎"Many people think they can resolve their problems by changing the outer conditions of their existence. In reality they are like the little birds who complained to their mother: ‘We don't want to stay in this nest any longer, mother. It isn't clean. Let's move to another nest that is cleaner and more comfortable.' And the mother bird responds, ‘Well, I can understand your disgust, and we could move to another nest, but won't you be bringing your little bottoms along with you? If so, the new nest will quickly become as dirty as the last, since it is you who makes the mess.'

And it is the same with human beings: when their world begins to look uninhabitable, they dream of paradise. But if they were allowed to enter paradise with their hearts and minds full of impurities, it would soon become a repulsive place. They must first of all change themselves because, once they are pure, wherever they may go, their dwellings also will remain clean. Instead of seeking to change your outer conditions, you must change yourself."

‎"The law of necessity, the law of free will and the law of divine Providence: these three laws govern the destiny of three categories of beings.

Those who have sought only to satisfy their most basic needs during the course of successive incarnations are subject to the law of necessity. They have become so deeply immersed in matter that they no longer have any freedom of movement. There is only one path for them, a very difficult one which they are forced to walk.

The law of free will governs beings who are more evolved. Although their freedom is limited, in their previous lives they have thought and acted in such a way that they are now allowed to choose their own direction.
As for the law of divine Providence, it governs the initiates and great masters who have always worked for the light. Their eyes see the vastness and splendour of life, and because the light dwells within them they are truly free."

‎"It’s so touching to see the efforts young children make when they’re learning to walk! They stagger, fall over, pick themselves up, fall over once more, but they always get up again… Whereas, when elderly people fall over, they have to wait to be helped to their feet, and when they’ve been helped up, they may have to be taken to hospital.

What lesson can we draw from these two examples? Children and elderly people are symbolic of the two attitudes people can adopt in the way they lead their life. So many people who have decided to work on improving themselves give up the first time they fail, saying, ‘That’s it, I won’t try a second time.’ Well, they have the character, soul, thoughts and feelings of an old person; they will not enter the kingdom of God, for the kingdom of God is for children. Jesus said so: ‘Unless you… become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.’ It’s worth making the effort thousands of times if necessary and, however much you fall, it’s worth picking yourself up again to carry on walking."

‎"Even if you are the most disadvantaged, deprived of creatures, you have no right to think that your life is lost. Your intellect, your heart, your physical body may be in a sorry state, but you must realize that there is always something you can do. And what might this be? Even simply concentrating on the qualities you would like to have. Work relentlessly at forming a picture in your mind of how you would ideally like to be. You will have results in the next incarnation and even in this one something will change in you because of the efforts you are making.

No wish, no desire, be it good or bad, remains without results. The moment you have a wish, it is realized in the invisible world. It takes a long time for it to be realized in the physical plane, but as you wait, the very beauty of this wish begins to reflect on you and impregnate the whole of your being."

‎"Many people find the idea of the spiritual life frightening, as they are under the impression that they will be throwing themselves into the void. Obviously, throwing oneself into the void is frightening and dangerous, but only for those whose wings haven't yet grown or who haven't learned to spread them. If they let their wings grow and they practise flying every day, they won't run any risk.

What does this image mean? That those who are truly motivated by the desire to put themselves in service to the spirit cannot fall - they will spread their wings and fly into space. Staying firmly on the ground without the desire to rise doesn't necessarily keep you from falling; on the contrary. And the fact that some have been lost in flight as a result of choosing the spiritual life means that the motivations inspiring their decision were not pure, disinterested and truly spiritual."

‎"The feeling of loneliness is one of the most terrible forms of suffering that human beings can experience. Each of us needs to find someone with whom we can share our thoughts, feelings, and aspirations, someone with whom we can exchange harmoniously every day. This ideal being is obviously very difficult to find, and many books have explained the anguish and suffering experienced by the failure to discover what some have called the twin soul! But, in reality, the human soul can only be filled definitively and completely by God. If you wish to conquer solitude and to feel that you are not alone every day, that you are surrounded by beings who love and understand you, and that you yourself are filled with a great presence of joy and light, you must unite with God. But you must unite with God in His manifested form, which means to unite with His wisdom, His love, and His truth. For the person who places love in his heart, wisdom in his head, and truth in his will, solitude no longer exists. "

‎"Some people have kept up their childhood habit of praying before going to sleep. They live any old how during the day, and then, come the evening, they say a little prayer asking God to forgive them for their faults. Well, it isn't enough, and if they act like that the devil will always be with them - as with the monk in the following story.

Yes, there was once a good old monk in a monastery who drank and drank: every day the level in the wine barrels would get visibly lower. Every evening, he would say his prayers - a bit sheepishly, of course - asking God to forgive him, after which, his conscience salved, he would go to sleep peacefully, and the next day he would begin again. This went on for years... Then, one evening, he forgot to say his prayers. And what should happen but during the night he feels someone shaking him and saying, 'Hey! You didn't say your prayers tonight. Come on, get up, hurry up, you've got to pray!' He wakes up, rubs his eyes, and who should he see but the devil?! Yes, it was the devil waking him up, for that's who was urging him to pray every evening. Why? To prevent him from mending his ways. Since the monk asked heaven for forgiveness when he said his prayers, his conscience was clear, and the next day he would start drinking again to the devil's great delight. The story tells us that, when he understood this, the monk was so frightened he gave up drinking for good. "

‎"Seek the Kingdom of God, hope for the Kingdom of God and nothing else, because the Kingdom of God is a state of perfection, of fulfilment, comprising everything: health, wealth, beauty, order, freedom, peace, wisdom, love, joy, and more. So, instead of naming all these blessings in your meditations and your prayers it is less ‘labour intensive' to talk of the Kingdom of God, which is the synthesis of all of these. People say: ‘If only I were powerful; if only I were rich; if only I were beautiful.' But these are only individual aspects, attributes of the Kingdom of God, and as soon as we begin to wish for something in particular, we create an imbalance. The Kingdom of God is above all a state of equilibrium and harmony, and if we seek one individual thing, it is obviously at the detriment of something else, and already the seeds of imbalance are sown. Everything our soul, our spirit, our heart, our intellect, our physical body need is contained in these words: the Kingdom of God."

‎"You will understand what love truly is when you stop thinking of it as a feeling. Feeling is necessarily subject to variation, depending on who it is meant for, while genuine love is a state of consciousness independent of beings and circumstances.

To love is not to have a feeling for someone but to live in love and do everything with love - speak, walk, eat, breathe, study with love... Love arises when we have brought all our organs, cells and faculties into a state of harmony, so that they vibrate in unison in light and peace. So love is a permanent state of consciousness. Those who have attained this state of consciousness feel their whole being imbued with divine fluids, and everything they do is a melody."



Jai Guru Deva OM

Namaste Friends!