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Sai Ram

 

Below is the article by Debra & William Miller inspired by Swami's Teaching

published in 'indiatimes.' Spirituality. Section :The Basics

Friday, December 16, 2005

It’s important to have our highest spiritual wisdom be the “source of our

motivation” and not our ego-personality, no matter how wonderful and ideal it

may seem.

 

We have a dear friend in India who once sent us an e-mail asking for our

insights on how to approach a difficult financial situation he was facing in

his company. He is a sincere, hardworking entrepreneur with a most optimistic

outlook on life and work. Yet at times, this outlook did not always work in a

positive way when it came to running his business.

 

As we engaged in our own self-reflection to see what insights we might offer

him, we found that we could relate to his ideals in many ways. As a result, we

formulated the following response as a loving offering of support to him:

 

“As we read about your difficulties with your company, it reminded us of

some of the struggles we have encountered in our own work. Both of our

personalities are naturally geared toward being optimistic, positive and

idealistic. These are certainly valuable and wholesome (satvic) qualities to

have. And when our-personalities are properly guided from the source of highest

spiritual wisdom, God’s Will, then we truly have a wholesome nature.

 

However, when we exert these optimistic, idealistic qualities solely from

the ego, they get out of balance and quite easily become ego-centred,

self-gratifying (rajasic) tendencies. In other words, we become passionate

about the ideal way things should be, and we become attached to our ego-desire

to having only positive outcomes.

 

Become aware of the ‘source’

“For years, it was confusing to us as to why life seemed so challenging when

we only wanted the most ideal outcome to occur for everyone. We have since

realised that it is important for us to be aware of the “source” of our

thoughts and motivations: Are they coming from our ego-personality or from our

highest spiritual wisdom? When the source of our motivation comes from our

spiritual wisdom, it often guides us in ways that our own optimistic,

idealistic ego-personality would reject.

 

“For example, a lady came to the ashram where we live, and within a few weeks

ran into financial and health difficulties. We tried to help her, since we

wanted her to have a positive experience here. One day she called and asked to

borrow some money for a few weeks. If we had followed our ego-personality, we

would have easily loaned her the money and hoped that, as a result, everything

would turn out positive for her.

 

“Fortunately, we took the time to consult our higher spiritual wisdom and

realised that it would be a great disservice to her if we loaned her the money.

We could see that her mind was quite agitated and she needed some direct, firm

spiritual teachings from a loving heart.

 

So we talked honestly with her about her own motivations for being at the

ashram, and we shared spiritual teachings with her that were appropriate to her

situation. As a result, she began to gain more confidence and faith in God’s

help, rather than seeking help ‘in the world.’”

 

Be firm in your faith

We are not denying the importance of optimism – our new insight was to be

aware of the source of that optimism, basing it on spiritual wisdom, as Sathya

Sai Baba says: “Everyone should develop a hopeful and optimistic outlook. Hopes

should be centred not on worldly things, but on Self-realisation. You must feel

that whatever happens to you is for your own good. You must have the firm

belief that whether your wishes are fulfilled or not, nothing harmful will

happen to you. Be firm in your faith.”

 

We finished our note to our entrepreneur friend with these words... “As we

continually surrender to God’s Will for every aspect of our existence, we find

that one by one, these ego-personality driven attitudes and desires are

becoming less and less powerful. We are continually discovering how important

it is to have our highest spiritual wisdom be the “source of our motivation”

and not our ego-personality, no matter how wonderful and ideal it may seem.

 

“We have to admit, as we continue to surrender to this way of living and

working, we encounter many surprises!”

 

So, ask yourself: What is the source of my optimistic, idealistic

motivations at work? What issues do I have at work where I need to consult my

higher spiritual wisdom for guidance?

 

Source: http://spirituality.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1334527.cms

 

 

Namaste - Reet

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nice article as many devotees face this dilema when

they were approached by otehrs especailly devotees for

help. In fact, yesterday one of my friends shared his

experience inparthi where he helped soem body and seva

dal suggested some thing else. I think these are

personal decisions.

 

I used two criterion which ofocurse vary from person

to person.

 

1. one is what is self effort of the person who is

asking for help? ( as Swamy always, it may rain(God's

grace) but did you till the land(self effort)?

2. What is my motivation (aego gratification or feel

good) or genuine compassion. Of course this has to be

weiged by our capacity to help.

 

sairam.

Rajasekahr

 

Swamy mentioned have to be used.

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