Greetings and welcome to Awakening With Brahma Kumaris.
Sister Shivani, welcome.
Om Shanti.
Om Shanti and welcome to Being Divine.
Thank you.
You gave me a difficult homework last time To think of my dress as me The shirt that I am wearing is I.
If I have to think that I am this.
If I am this then that I am not this body.
That is fine.
But I am this shirt.
And throughout the day I am just doing all my activities.
What happens to the consciousness then? My attention will be on my clothes and other people's clothes That's the first thing.
Focus will be on my clothes and other people's clothes.
If we start comparing with each other About who is better, who is higher Who is more beautiful On what basis will we compare? My shirt is whiter than theirs It happened because we thought I am this shirt.
If while eating or doing some activity, if something falls on the shirt I became dirty.
If the shirt's edge gets stuck to a door latch and tears Then I got torn.
Is it true? My dress got torn.
Difference between I got torn and my dress got torn? It seems to be such a small thing.
But if we start living this way Where will our focus be throughout the day? This dress should be better than that dress If there is a stain on this dress how can it be perfect? And if this dress gets torn, we say – I got torn, what will I do now? What kind of a life will it be? Below this dress we have worn another costume, this body.
We found it difficult To think that I am this dress.
We have found it equally easy and natural to believe that I am this body.
We have started believing that this dress is me.
It would have started some day.
Everyday after getting dressed we ask people around us – How am I looking? How am I looking today? Is based on how this body is looking.
Because I thought body is I.
If you had believed you are this dress It means if the dress is beautiful, then I am beautiful.
Similarly when we thought I am this body It means if the body is beautiful, then I am beautiful.
You said suppose you are the dress When I look at myself as a dress then I look at others also as a dress.
Similarly if I think I am this body You looked at yourself as a body.
How did you look at others? As a body Even if you compared with others on what basis was it? On the basis of body.
If something happens to the body even slightly We say it happened to me.
My nose is not perfect, my teeth are not perfect.
Me I wanted to be perfect So I started thinking my body should be perfect Instead of saying about my nose, I will start saying I am not perfect I am not good looking, I am fair.
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If there is an illness in the body We will not say my body has this illness We say I have this illness.
I have this disease.
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I have that illness.
But actually I didn't have it.
Both are completely different.
I illness that have is different And the illness that my body has is different.
But when the body had illnesses.
I said I have it.
What is not me, do not call it as me.
What is mine, call it mine.
Don't mistake it to be me.
Otherwise it creates a lot of confusion.
With this wrong consciousness shift There are so many problems.
Today there is an entire industry Which focuses on perfecting the body.
There is an entire industry.
It focuses on beautifying the body.
They are doing a lot of business rectifying hair, ears, nose Because the I My Sanskar is of beauty and perfection.
But I believed who am I? This body.
So where did I start looking for beauty and perfection? All my attention went towards perfecting and beautifying the body.
Both were actually different.
So I looked for beauty and perfection in the body.
If the body was ill, I said I am ill.
I made comparisons on the basis of the body.
Throughout the day there is stress due to the desire that I should look good.
I need to look good.
It is true.
I need to look good.
Who is the I who needs to look good? I need to look good.
Be started saying I the body, need to look good.
Both are different.
It is not that we don't want a good and healthy body.
We need it that way.
But when the focus of I need to look good, shifted to the body Then there were many problems to the I here.
Jealousy and inferiority complex were created The feeling of rejection was created.
All this happened in the I here When this body was not looking good.
If my intention is that I need to look good Where should my attention be? I should look good I want to look beautiful.
Where do I want to be beautiful? I want to be beautiful.
I here.
What is this I? The I is one which calls this body as mine Who is the one who is saying all this is mine? But because of forgetting the self We don't look for our beauty and perfection within ourselves We start looking for them in things that we have.
Body should be perfect.
My role should be perfect.
I have to discharge my responsibilities perfectly.
That's important.
But first I have to be perfect.
Then everything else should be perfect.
But in the process of making everything else perfect I got disturbed.
Because I did not pay attention to the I.
Everything that is mine which we use and manage Which we handle The energy which drives all this That energy is called I.
That energy is saying this is mine.
We see through these eyes.
Our eyes can be the same.
But what do we want to see through those eyes? Who decides that? I.
Your and my eyes look the same But in this Garden, what do you choose to see through your eyes? And what do I choose to see through my eyes? It will be different.
Our perceptions are different.
Using these eyes, what do we choose to see? So eye is only an instrument Through these eyes I see Through this mouth I speak.
The mouth is not speaking by itself.
What is the energy which is using the mouth to speak? What is the energy with uses what to speak – to speak sweetly, softly or harshly? Who is that, because the mouth cannot speak by itself? Ears are listening.
But what to listen through them? Listen to somebody's appreciation or criticism? If you look at our hands, they look similar.
But do you want to bless someone with it or slap someone? Who decides that? I.
I who is using this body.
I who is operating through this body.
I was playing all my roles and responsibilities through this body.
Suppose I hold a knife in this hand We can use the knife to cut vegetables Or we can even harm someone using the same knife.
Is it the knife which will decide the action? No it's my choice.
Is it the hand which will decide? No.
Then who will decide? I.
We are very clear that knife is an instrument.
What about our hand? I can consider my hand also to be an instrument.
It is of course an instrument.
Just like a knife is an instrument and did not have the power to decide what to do Even this hand doesn't have decision making power about what to do.
It's an instrument.
What should I do with this hand? I decide.
Similarly what is this entire body? But we say by mistake I raised my hand, or by mistake I spoke something Is it wrong to say so? The mistake happened here in the mind.
And it was done through the hand.
It's my mistake.
It's not my hand's mistake.
My entire body is my instrument.
This hand is our instrument and we look through our eyes Attachment to a wrong image This is an attachment to the first wrong image.
Body.
Because body is the first thing we acquired.
Second will be relationships It is the second thing we acquired.
Third will be our position, designation, knowledge Relationships cannot be acquired, it depends on where you are born You have acquired relationships.
You acquire several relationships on your journey of life.
Isn't it by birth? The first thing you got is a body Next you got parents.
And then siblings.
And then friends, then teachers, then spouse.
And then children.
All these relationships are acquired.
We acquire them but we will lose them one day.
This realisation that we have acquired And we will lose them too.
No matter what job people are in, one day they will lose it.
The same with the body.
It means everything that we acquire Everything that we acquire is temporary.
The first thing we acquire is our body.
Everything that is mine.
Everything that I have got There was a beautiful line Everything is for me, nothing is mine.
It is for me means Suppose I am the Prime Minister sitting on the chair today Even this chair.
Even this body.
This body is for me to use.
All this is for me.
It helps to prevent attachment It is not mine but it is for me.
When we say it is for me and then use it We become detached.
Being detached we use it very well.
Now I get clarity on some aspects.
When Ashtavakra imparted wisdom to King Janak After getting all the Gyan, King Janak said he would sacrifice everything and go to the Jungle.
But Ashtavakra told him that now with all the knowledge he should start ruling the Kingdom.
Which means become a trustee Be a Trustee and use everything.
What does spirituality teach us? Detachment.
But today we have created a wrong concept about detachment.
That we will no longer be interested in anything Disinterested Detachment means When we get detached from something We will continue to use them as a trustee That thing can be my body, my roles, my responsibilities, We will discharge it lovingly and accurately.
But if we say it is mine, then we may use it very carelessly.
So this means liberation also.
When we are detached we are liberated When we are detached we are first liberated from our attachments.
When we pray to God we say – this body, mind, and my wealth – they all belong to you.
Suppose we say this in the morning.
Do we live this line throughout the day? Just for one hour, consciousness shift That my body, mind and wealth are all yours (God's).
Now use them It is like how a bank manager is a Trustee of our money.
He is just sitting there and managing transactions.
Why were we taught in childhood to say to God that my body, mind and wealth are yours? You give it to me, I offer it back to you.
All this belongs to you.
We were taught this way so that all these three These three are also energies.
Body, mind and wealth are energies.
By saying that we will use them beautifully and accurately throughout the day.
Whose assets are they? Even if a child comes home for a while, we will say please take care of him as long as he is here in this house.
The way he comes home, he should go back in the same condition.
Even if someone leaves their pet dog in your house If they are going out and they ask you to take care for a day.
You will take care like a trustee.
If you need to drive someone else's car You will take care of it like a trustee.
Just for one day create a thought – this body belongs to God.
He has given it.
I need to use it throughout the day.
So how will we use this body? What will you put into it? And what will you avoid? The Prasad prepared at temples, we try to give it to the body.
We take care of so many other things.
Why don't we take care of this? We will take care of our shirt because it is expensive.
Even before ironing it we check if the temperature setting is correct.
And the many things which we put into this body.
What are they doing inside to the body? Body, mind and wealth.
All this which we have got, for us to use them If we get attached to them First is a wrong image and then attachment to a wrong image.
What will the result be? Suppose I have got this object to use it.
Now I hold it like this.
Though I hold it like this I know that one day it will fall For how long can I hold it like this? As long as it is functional.
One day it's bound to fall.
It can fall in a few hours or a few days.
I don't know when.
But I have the knowledge that That one day it is certain to fall.
I have the knowledge that it is certain to fall But still I hold it so that it should not fall.
Let us say on the 10th day it finally fell.
For 10 days I was able to hold it very tight.
On the tenth day it falls.
On that day I will feel bad that I no longer have it.
Maybe it got lost or it broke.
Whatever.
The question is How did those 10 days go? In tension.
But why? Holding it tight, paying attention and being careful There is fear that it should not break or fall or get finished.
It means instead of enjoying it for 10 days It is fear that it should not fall down.
And there is stress.
Even if someone came and looked at it I will scold him fearing that he might take it away from me.
Actually this corresponds to our life.
In this lifetime we got everything, in order to be used.
Everything was for me.
We got this body to use it.
We got relationships to enjoy them.
Relationships, roles and responsibilities were to be managed.
We forgot about wealth.
We had to use it but we are holding onto it.
We are worried that nothing should happen to it.
People even perform Pooja everyday to ensure that their factories run smoothly.
Care and concern but not worry.
If I hold on like this, then I will spend 10 days in tension.
Suppose I have got this body to use it for 80 years.
Suppose that is my destiny, to use this body for 80 years.
I also got roles and relationships.
So I got them for 80 years.
During this time I acquired things And also during the journey we lose a few things.
From the beginning of the journey we have the knowledge That one day all these are bound to be lost Even this body.
I have to use it for 80 years but I did not know the duration as 80.
So every day of my life All these things – this body, relationships, roles, position I held on tightly to them That I should never lose them.
So my entire life time Instead of enjoying what I had Instead of being a Trustee and managing all of them I created fear, worry, anxiety, and stress.
Because I thought they are “I”.
So I should not lose them.
I said they are “I”.
You said we get designations.
Even after we lose designations we hold onto them.
That's right.
On visiting cards it would be written in small font, as “Ex” so and so.
Even on name plates in front of the house, it is written in small font.
Retired so and so.
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We had a position.
And then we lost it.
Why did we hold onto it? Because we thought that was I.
We said if that is not I, then who am I? This is called identity crisis.
We say ex member so and so.
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Because the position we had acquired, we made it our identity.
One of my uncles would invite me to see the royal treatment that he got during his service.
Even his wife would speak similarly, about the luxurious and incentives they enjoyed.
We are still in that pain because now that position and identity are no more present.
So everything that we acquired We knew that we will lose them one day.
We knew that we will leave the body too.
Still we tightly held on to everything We are living in stress and fear And most important the energy which is using all this thing is I We forgot that I And everything that is mine, I thought it is I.
And I am looking for beauty and perfection in them I even started looking even for my happiness in them.
Because I have forgotten who am I.
Ego, attachment to a wrong image of myself.
Because of living in ego Because of one wrong consciousness or belief, destiny changes.
Who am I? The consciousness.
The I is inside And when layers and layers and layers of required things are formed around it That is why we forget the I.
It is like if someone loses memory If they forget who they are How does life become? Lost, confused, in pain, in fear.
We call it spiritual amnesia.
It I have forgotten who I am.
I have forgotten who you are.
I have forgotten what is the purpose of my life.
I have forgotten why I am here.
That is the reason that today although I have everything I don't know why I feel so empty within.
Because we have forgotten who is the “I” about whom we are speaking.
Let's do a small experiment throughout the day today.
Each and every label that is put on us The label of our name was the first label put on us.
After this body we got our name next.
Then we got our relationships and position.
Remove each and every label today.
You are not losing it but just dis-identify yourself from it.
Knowing that it is not me but it is my label.
Remove the layer of every acquired label, till we reach “I”.
And then we will use all these labels.
We will use them all and do all our tasks.
But with the understanding that this is I, and these are my labels.
Now I need to manage all these labels.
Which means attention will come back on I.
Om Shanti.
Thank you so much.
Om Shanti.
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