Bits and Pieces

5 am at Peterborbough Apts. It is so great to be able to get out of bed and simply turn on the computer and write a message without bothering anyone. Express yourself. I am reading a book written by a friend who lives in Arizona, Dixie Cooper. It is a wonderful book and she's had incredible experiences.

But the thing I wanted to bring out here is a Swami quote about the Sai Organization. It really fits in with what we have been talking about.....and then I promise I'll let it go. My sister says I try to 'social work' everything and people don't like it. This is the quote:

The main objective of the Sai Organization is to help you recognize the divinity in you. So your duty is to emphasize the One, to experience the One in all you do or speak. Do not give importance to differences of religion, sect, status or color. Have the feeling of One-ness permeating all your acts. Only those who do so have a place in this Organization, the rest can withdraw

Sathya Sai Baba

Sathya Sai Speaks Volume 9

And so we must emphasize Oneness at our Centers, the Sai Center of the Organization as well as the Sai Center of our very selves. In our meditation as well as our every day thoughts and feelings we must get in touch with that Onneness, get in touch with ourselvs. Youall may not have a problem with that after so many years of sadhana but I think I have a brain problem. I can't seem to zero in on myself. I think the reason I don't consentrate enough on Swami is because I don't consentrate on myself. Does anyone else have this problem? Probably not.

So I found another quote, this time not from Swami but from a guy named Manoinus and I think he lived centuries ago. Our friend Jackie Davies gives us this quote from her Blog, Awareness-translator or something like that. I'll look that up for your. She writes 'On the Reality'. Here is the quote:

Abandon the search for God and this creation and other matters of a similar sort. Look for Him (Look for Swami) by taking yourself as the starting point. Learn who it is within you who makes everything his own and says, 'MY God, MY mind, MY thoughts, MY soul, MY body. Learn the source of sorrow, joy, love and hate. If you carefully investigate these matters you will find HIM IN YOURSELF.

Swami talks about the I AM. Same thing isn't it. We spend our lives trying to get away from 'I and Mine' only to resume the search in a different way. I and Mine can be sheer ego but I AM is the liberating SELF within because it is the Lord.

My (ha ha) meditation has for years been the chanting of the Mother's mantra, the Panchadasi. It is simply a string of 'Bijas' or Sanskrit words and it definitely does encourage the Shakthi to awaken quietly. I probably shouldn't stop doing this but perhaps I should spend more time trying to focus on the Real Self. In fact I know I should. In fact I think that's what I should be doing now in my own space in the last years of my life. I wish I'd started sooner but I read something else in Dixie's book. Baba says, 'To remove anyone's ignorance is entirely dependant on my will'.