Fascinating Insights

“Om shanti. Greetings of peace to my sisters and my brothers.

I’m not a scientist so there’s not a lot I know about DNA in terms of science but enough just to say that when you mention somebody’s DNA, what you’re talking about is the way they are - who they are, their very being, their personality. They say that DNA is the engine life and there are situations in which DNA is expressed and there are situations in which DNA can be suppressed and so different times, different situations and environment. So, what does all of this got to do with God?

It seems a lovely idea to think about science as an exploration but also the subject of God as an exploration. And when you explore something you begin with a certain concept, you experiment and see. Does this work or is there something else that’s happening that makes you change your concept? If the result of your research and experimentation shows something different, well, that is the reality. In terms of God, there have been a lot of myths, legends, many different concepts all sorts of ideas that have come up but how do we know whether all this is real, or not?

Maybe two concepts of God that are known across the world, universally, are that God is love, and it seems to be a bit of a paradox but also that God is truth. And somehow the these two concepts of God as love and truth have been the defining qualities that we’ve always spoken of in terms of God.

So, I have to ask, have I experienced God’s love? if I haven’t come to that experience of God’s love, maybe I’ve read somebody else’s experience of God, or maybe I have had a good fortune of meeting somebody who’s able to share their personal experience of God. I might begin to feel that maybe there’s something here that I need to explore further, and so I ask myself how can I know what is God’s love. And this is where we often get stuck because so often different people have shown us different methods and it has been challenging because we don’t always come to that experience.

God's DNA

by BK Jayanti Kirpalani, Director of Brahma Kumaris Europe and the Middle East, a much sought after speaker and broadcaster on spiritual matters, and a meditator for more than 40 years, speaking of her experience on God from the Global Cooperation House in London in June 2016

Healing Heart & Soul

by Dr Nirmala Kajaria, BK Director for Asia-Pacific and Australia, and also Director at the Academy for a Better World in Mount Abu Rajasthan India.

Prevention of any disease is possible if we have healed both our heart and soul. But what is he sickness of heart and soul? Dr Nirmala Kajaria dives deeper into this aspect.

"Om shanti. Greetings of peace. We heard of prevention of chronic diseases through diet and lifestyle. One of the factors that we were told is that we have to change our way of thinking; also to remain relaxed and not allow stress. That’s where I’ll focus on because not only healing the body is important but healing our heart and soul.

Prevention of any diseases can be if we only we have healed the heart and soul. What is sickness of the heart and soul? Sickness of your heart does not mean physical sickness of heart. We have to treat the physical sickness of the heart but that’s treated by physical doctors, cardiologists etc. What we need is mainly to help ourselves. I have to see that I have control over my mind and emotions because this is a conflict society- everybody wants to control everybody else. Everyone wants to be the boss. The problem is, we are not able to control our thoughts and emotions. We can control the temperature of the room, people working under us, and ourselves.

The Power of Love

Q&A with Sister Jayanti Kirpalani, Director Brahma Kumaris Europe and the Middle East, attended by students, office workers, parents during her visit in the Philippines.

Question 1: Can you give us concrete, practical examples on how to practice loving one's self.

Sister Jayanti: Every time you have a negative thought for yourself, catch yourself. 'Oh, I am no good', stop the thought! Even if someone has told you you’re no good, stop. Just think I am that being of love, of peace. You change the bad thought to 'I am that being of peace, of light, of love.'

I forget it so I have to remind myself, 'I am good'. When you say things like 'oh there is something always wrong with me', just stop! Then ask yourself what is it that what went right and you will remember the many things that went well with you, what is right. It is the negative conversation that goes chattering away inside that begins to pull me down, then I begin to believe it. But it’s not true because I, in my original form I am good, I am light. There is truth here and I have to remind myself.

If I put myself in a limited perspective in the sense that I see myself according to my gender, age, profession or any of these external things, then it is very easy to be negative about the self. If I come back to that awareness, not just the thought but actually allowing that thought to stay with me so that it becomes part of my natural awareness and consciousness that I am spirit, invisible but real. So keep on shifting. Things will pull you down in the consciousness of the body but you have to take yourself up. The world is ready to pull you down, there is no one out there who will pull you up except you and the Divine. And so to come back to the self.

Understanding Karma

An interview with BK Rose Uy, Center Coordinator at Brahma Kumaris Quezon City, and a meditator for 30 years

One of the lessons that I learned in my journey of spirituality is the subject of karma. It has answered a lot of my questions.

So what is karma? Karma I know is a word that is known many by many people do not understand fully what is. Simply stated, "karma" means action. And so an action can be good, can be negative can be positive, can be charitable, can be destructive. It all depends on the doer of the action. But our actions are governed by a universal law. And this is called the Law of Karma. The Law of Karma states that for every action that we do there is a corresponding reaction to it. Some people call it the law of cause and effect. The law of sow and reap. It means the same, whatever goes around comes around. So, to put it practically into my life, I always think to myself: What is the fruit that I want to experience in life because accordingly, that then would be the kind of seeds that I should be planting in my life. So if I want to experience happiness in my life then it is imperative that I plant happy thoughts because thoughts are the seeds of actions.

In every thought that I have that will translate into my words, into my feelings, my attitude, my behavior, my character, and my personality. Ultimately to my life. And so every day, if I ask myself this question, then understanding the Law of Karma can be beneficial for me.

Good Karma Ends Fear

BK Denise Lawrence is an international speaker and a broadcaster on spirituality and Raja Yoga Meditation.

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Om shanti. Many people associate the word karma with fear because karma is generally thought of as something bad. As in your karma is going to get you. I think we have a song like that- Instant Karma is going to get you. One of the musician groups of the seventies and eighties. But as you saw in the words that were played across the screen karma means action. Now fear is the term that is used ambivalently. It is said that a God-fearing man is a good man. Should one fear God? Or perhaps why should you fear God? I don't think that one can fear someone that you want to be close to. I think that people want to be close to God. You also see in different situations that people call out to God when they are the most afraid. It is a strange relationship that we have with fear. I think that everybody likes to please someone. You like to please your parents. You like to please your friends. You like to please your neighbors. You like to please your children. But yet, people-pleasing is considered a serious mental illness. We have an ambivalence with pleasing, an ambivalent relationship with fearing. I think also, an ambivalent relationship with karma. Pleasing people by flattering them would be bad karma. Right? Why would that produce fear? If you want to please people, you'd figure out that the one thing you would have to do, is to please them. So what will they do? They will not be pleased. Then you have to try harder to pleased them. But there is a game going on. And the game is that if I don’t show you that I am pleased with you then you become my prisoner. So that would be bad karma. You can see that it is a little bit complicated. Fear of what? What is it that people are most afraid of? There are many things that people fear.

Inner Strength in times of Conflict & Disaster

BK Jayanti, BK lead delegate to the UN Conference on Climate Change since 2009. Sister Jayanti is an international speaker, author on spirituality, and a meditator for more than 40 years.

Greetings of peace to my sisters and my brothers.

Things happen in some places more frequently than others and this is one of those places where many things happen regularly. But yet this is a country as my sister said, a country that has faith, a country that has enthusiasm for life. This is something that I've always seen here in this country and so with faith and enthusiasm yes surely we can overcome all adversities whether it's nature, whether it's other situations but it's our inner strength that's going to be able to carry us through all of these things. You also heard the people who were being interviewed and they happen to be people who are meditators, and so they were talking about this inner strength. And so where does inner strength come from?

Most times if I look inside probably I find a state of chaos, a bowl of noodles or spaghetti, why, because our thoughts are so tangled. We start thinking of one thing and then we go up in too many directions many strands everything gets a bit muddled and after some minutes I suddenly realize I was supposed to be concentrating on something else. Has that ever happened to you? I’m sure it has. And so if I'm just going inside just watching all of this then probably, I’ll say, “ah, it is going to be too difficult to do anything let me forget about it.” Sometimes another thing happens, the pain and sorrow that we carry is so strong that when we go inside the first thing that we see is the sorrow. And maybe this is why we don't give ourselves time for silence. In fact the world today is such that there is very little silence. Even at midnight you can hear the traffic, at least in Manila, you can. But most places around the world are quite similar even if you go down to the beach, somebody will put on their music and they’ll think they are entertaining everyone, but it's not a place of silence.

Different Kinds of Thoughts

One of the many lessons you can learn from our free classes and retreats

Om shanti.

By understanding each one of the thoughts that the mind creates, we can keep the beneficial thoughts and discard those which are useless or harmful. There are basically three different kinds of thoughts:

1. Necessary Thoughts - necessary thoughts are those relating to your daily routine, such as:

* What am I going to have for dinner?

* What time am I picking up the children from school?

* What is the number of my bank account?

* What do I need to do today?

These thoughts are necessary as they relate to your daily life function, your school, profession, your job. They come into your mind according to your responsibilities and needs at a more physical, material and professional level. However, when these thoughts are repeated over and over again, when they become the cause of concern or anxiety they become unnecessary or waste.

Thought for Today

Thought for Today UK is inspired by the teachings of Raja Yoga from the Brahma Kumaris University

Thoughts have great power, they are like seeds you plant in your mind.

The more you hold onto a particular thought, the more power you invest in it. Positive thoughts give us energy and strength. Negative thoughts rob us of power and make us feel tired and strained.

We are by nature positive. Negativity is the result of faulty thinking. You can change if you want to. You can’t control other people, situation or circumstances, but you can control what is going on inside you. It takes time to change and transform those old patterns of thinking.

Be patient with yourself. It starts with a thought….. Today

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