A Discourse for Devotees, by Michael Goldstein. M.D. - PART II

[Guest guest]

Sent by: Bon Giovanni

A Discourse for Devotees, by Michael Goldstein. M.D. – PART II

The nature of God and man, our purpose and our plan and time, time, time.

What about time?

Bhagawan Baba has said, "Don’t waste even one moment of the span of life which

has been granted to you. Time is the body of God"

Swami is like a divine clock. The hands of the clock, whose movement we cannot

see, represent the changes that He is making in the world. The minute hand

represents those movements that we can almost see. They represent the changes

that He is making in each and every one of us. The second hand, whose movements

are almost imperceptible, represent those glorious occasions when Swami

intervenes directly in our lives and we know it without any doubt whatsoever.

I remember an incident in which a devotee, who had been behaving incorrectly was

reprimanded by Swami. The devotee, mortified by Swami’s reproach, said to Him:

"Swami, I will stop my incorrect actions from this moment on." Swami responded,

very severely, " From this moment on--no, but from right now!"

Without a doubt, Swami wants us to understand that time is life and that no one

knows what awaits us ahead. How can we squander the most priceless which cannot

be replaced, and which cannot even be measured …? The time of our lives! Only

Swami knows what is awaiting us.

The presence of Bhagawan Baba amidst us, here and now is the will and work of

God. In fact, it is the Lord himself that has come to keep us from the

precipice of auto-destruction. That He is with us here and now, in the human

form of our beloved Swami-- that is the will and work of God.

The advent of the millennium is the will and work of man. Man has divided time

into various units, according to the movement of the celestial spheres, in

order to be able to act and interact in an orderly way in this world. Man has

created the distinctions in time: second, minute, hour, day, week, month, year,

century and millennium.

An unfortunate consequence of our useful classification of time in these

divisions has been the development of the possibility of the power to

"postpone", as a form of life, amidst humans.

Only man delays and postpones. Animals, birds, ants and other forms of living

beings do what they are meant to do at any given moment, only we leave for

tomorrow that which should be done today.

We are punctual for the frivolous divisions, but we are out of time to study and

apply the Divine Teachings of Bhagawan Baba in human nature.

The nature of God and man, our purpose, our plan, and time, time, time.

And what of man?

Swami indicates that we should repeat to ourselves, "I am a man, not an animal".

What does this mean?

I am a man, not an animal.

A great philosopher once said, " Knowledge is not enough, we should apply it.

Will is not enough, we must do it".

The will of God will be done.

Our bodies are the tools which fulfill the work of divinity.

Our minds are the artisans which use the tools to fulfill the work of divinity.

Our conscience is the light of the Lord within us, which guides our minds, which

are the artisans that use our bodies, which are the tools, to fulfill the works

of Divinity.

Repeat slowly…… (Michael repeats the above, beginning with "Our conscience is

the light of the Lord….)

"The conscience gives wise advise to the mind, which sends orders to the body"

Repeat slowly….. (He repeats the above, "The conscience gives….)

Through our conscience, our minds and bodies become instruments for the

demonstration and the preservation of the glory of the Divine Conscience, which

is Love, and Love is God. Love all, serve all. These are the works of Divinity.

Will we adhere to the spiritual path of life?

Or will we succumb to the squandering of mundane life?

The choice is ours, truly it is!

I am a man, not an animal.

Swami has described the spiritual anatomy of man, using the analogy of a

carriage. He tells us that the horses represent the indriyas or senses; the

reigns represent the manas or the mind; the carriage represents the body; the

coachman represents the buddhi, or intellect, and the passenger in the coach

represents the atma, or spirit.

Let us ask ourselves in this context, if we journey through these lives as

divine passengers, or will we be driven through these lives as beasts of

burden?

The choice is ours!

I am a man, not an animal.

We should never allow our lack of control to limit the Divinity within.

We aspire to experience Divinity from the height of divine wisdom and the

attitude of unconditional love.

Our mind is a reservoir. We must maintain the contents clean. Our conscience

stirs up the dirt and the detestable, and drowns the conscience of God. The

torrent of purity draws the cardinal enemies of man; lust, anger, greed, pride,

attachment, and jealousy. They submerge and then the clear waters of pure love,

free of egoism, water the ground of our humanity and allows our sprits to

flourish.

We must have confidence in our conscience and in the conscience of others, Then

society will become a gracious game, rejoiceful and of amorous interaction

between the Lord, Our Beloved Baba, and His creation, humanity. We are really

brothers and sisters in the family of humanity. Are we prepared to live in

confidence of our own conscience and in the conscience of others?

The choice is ours!

Our lives are a crossing of the illusion of reality, of the fears of the

darkness to the light and to clarity, from the poverty of ignorance, to the

opulent treasure of the knowledge of oneself.

To arrive at our divine destiny, we must look at the map, which is engraved in

our hearts, that is self- inquiry.

To see the map within us, and to know love free of all egoism and to navigate

these lives in this exterior world with wisdom, we need light, Divine

Illumination.

The Lord provides the light of His love to everyone. It is within us and around

us. It is everywhere. Swami so often tells us that He is in us, beside us and

around us. Swami is the light of the Lord that allows us to experience the

unconditional love and see the map of the self-knowledge inscribed in our

hearts.

Swami is the light.

The light is the loving divine consciousness.

The loving divine consciousness is God.

The nature of God and man, our purpose and our plan, and time, time, time.

What is the purpose of our lives?

First is there is creation.

Then there is civilisation.

Then there is self-realisation.

First there is creation. God dedicates himself to humanity.

Our past actions determine our genetic predisposition and the circumstances of

our birth. We are born in a situation that allows us to learn the spiritual

lessons we need, to obtain the spiritual recompense we deserve, and to repair

our past transgressions. This way we truly reap what we sow.

Then there is civilisation. Men and women recognise that the quality of life

improves with peace and love. Men and women search for a purpose in their

lives. There is self-inquiry. Our character determines our level and place in

civilisation. If we are generous and compassionate, sincere and unconditional,

we are free and noble. If we are mean and indifferent, false and egoistic, we

are enslaved and we are ignoble men. The ignoble person is enslaved by one’s

ego and body. The desire of power over others and sensual pleasures contaminate

and enslave the ignoble person.

Then there is self-realisation. Men and women experience and become one with

their innate divinity. They live in constant and everlasting consciousness of

their divine reality. That is self-realisation. This is the divine purpose of

our human lives.

First we are born and we see the light of day.

Then we learn and experience the light of love and wisdom.

Then we identify ourselves with our consciousness and we become one with the light of God.

We see!--------------we experience! -------------we become light!

The purpose of these human lives, then, is to become constantly conscious of the

loving divine consciousness which saturates all creation. The nature of this

consciousness is unconditional love.

The nature of God and man, our purpose and our plan, and time, time, time.

[Continued in Part III]