Signs of Development in Spiritual Effort

Signs of Development in Spiritual Effort
-          From 1972 Avyakt Murlis

1.      At the present, there are three stages of making effort.  Each of you is moving along according to your own capacity.  What are those three stages?  One is speaking, the second is churning and the third is being absorbed.  The majority are in the stage of speaking.  Because of a lack of churning and being absorbed, the soul lacks will-power.

2.      A wave of obstacles comes when the force of spirituality is lacking.  ….  Someone wealthy would give special help to his close relatives and uplift them.  In the same way, you have to give a special current to all the weak souls who are in connection or relationship with you.  Achcha….. 

3.      You are revising your course again, and so the old words are also being revised.  This is also a drill for the intellect.  …..You should not have any type of love for anyone, otherwise, you will come in the list of those who have a divorced intellect.  …… according to the present time when the actual study has finished and the revision is taking place.

4.      Whatever actions such souls perform, they will have faith in the intellect.  Baba also gives regard to the children and advises them.  Check to see how close you have come to such a stage.  Then you will not have the thought: I don't know whether this is right or wrong.  This thought will finish, because you are master knowledge-full.

5.      You must also be experiencing from one another that when you pay special attention to your aim and intoxication, then, no matter how big a gathering you may be sitting in, everyone will definitely be able to see something special.  They will have the experience of having had very good remembrance.  The ordinary present attention will be changed and there will be special attention naturally, and the sparkle and intoxication will be visible from their faces.  You simply have to make your attitude powerful.  Achcha.

6.      Those who constantly celebrate Holi constantly celebrate meeting the Father.  They constantly swing and dance in supersensuous joy and imperishable happiness.  Are you the holy swans who remain stable in such a stage?  People anticipate every festival in order to bring about enthusiasm within themselves, because the festivals give them temporary enthusiasm.  However, for you elevated souls, not only each day, but every second is a festival, that is, it makes you enthusiastic.  Imperishable means that there is constantly one festival or another, because there is no difference in your enthusiasm.  So that means it is constant, does it not?  ……  Who were the instruments to start this system?  You Brahmins.  Now, when you stabilise yourselves in the holy stage, that is, in the stage of purity, or when you are coloured by the colour of the Father's company, then whilst experiencing this Godly intoxication, you forget the awareness of the body, the awareness of the different relationships, the awareness of being senior or junior, and you only have the awareness of the form of the soul.  So people of the world celebrate the memorial of your having been constantly in this stage over a long period of time.  …..Those who surrender themselves can never be defeated.  Awareness brings power, and by being powerful, your tasks are successful.  That is, you attain what you were just told about: happiness, intoxication and the aim.  Because of all these things disappearing, there is weakness.  Because of forgetfulness, there is a lack of power.  Power is received through having awareness, and as soon as you have the awareness, you attain all success, that is, all your tasks are successfully accomplished.  Whatever task those who constantly remain in the awareness carry out or whatever thought they create, they have the faith that that task or that thought has already been accomplished successfully.  That is, souls who have such faith in the intellect, move along considering their success and victory to be guaranteed. 

7.      When your awareness, attitude and vision become spiritual, no person or thing of this world can attract you.  If it does attract you, then you should understand that there is a lack of spirituality in your awareness, vision and attitude.  ….. Have you surrendered all your weaknesses in the bhatthi, or do you still have to do that? 

8.      One is the power to fight (sangram), and the other is the power to take and accumulate goodness (sangrah).  ……… begin any task after stabilising yourself in the stage of being the embodiment of power.  If someone performs a beautiful act off-stage, how will the audience be able to see it?  It is the same here.  First of all, stabilise yourself in your stage and then perform your act, for only then will your act be accurate and worthy of being praised.  When you come off-stage, you start to perform your act in an ordinary way, and then you think about it.  ……. the plans of those who are master almighty authorities and who are constantly the embodiment of success, will take practical shape. 

9.      Since you can let go of your crown, your throne and your original form because of your love for a human relation, can you not renounce body consciousness, now that you have love for the Father?  Is it difficult? 

10.  The stage of remaining beyond and the stage of being a detached observer are one and the same thing.  For that, the two things you have to pay attention to are: firstly, I, the soul, am an elevated soul, and secondly, I, the soul, am at present a guest in this old world and this old body.  …...  You should receive a certificate of contentment from all souls in three subjects: your own effort, your service and your connection with others. 

11.  If you consider yourselves to be lovely and lucky, you will constantly remain free from obstacles, and experience the stage of being absorbed in Baba's love.  ….. Firstly, they will be knowledge-full, that is, they will have full knowledge.  If something is lacking in your being full, then you are numberwise in being lucky also.  If you are knowledge-full, you will be number one in being lucky.  There is knowledge about karma and also knowledge about your Creator and the creation.  There is also knowledge about coming into connection with the family or with gyani souls.  Knowledge is not just knowledge about the Creator and the creation, but knowledge-full means that you are the embodiment of knowledge in every thought, every word and in every action.  This is called being knowledge-full.  Secondly, the extent to which you are knowledge-full, so you will also be careful.  The more careful you are, the sign of that is that you are cheerful to the same extent.  If someone is not cheerful, he will not appear to be lovely.  If someone is not careful either, then also, he will not seem lovely…….  …..You should have clear knowledge of what maryadas you have to have in all the actions you perform from morning till night.  If you do not have that knowledge, then you cannot be careful either. 

12.  Are you lawful to the same extent as you are loveful?  Or is it that you cannot be lawful when you are loveful and you cannot be loveful when you are lawful?  Are you able to reveal both these stages at the same time as your form in action?  Until your stages of law and love become equal, you cannot constantly be the embodiment of success in your actions.  In order to be the embodiment of success and the image of perfection, you need both these stages.  You have to be lawful to the self also, not just to others.  …… Do not think that Baba is merciful, and that Baba will be merciful for whatever happens; no.  Now, you will have to settle a thousand-fold karmic account of one mistake.  Therefore, now is not the time to make even the slightest mistake.  …….  In the relationship of the Father, Baba, whilst accepting your carelessness and the mischief of childhood made you move forward.  However, it is now the part of the form of the Satguru to purify you in every way and to take you back home with Himself.  The Father accepts the children's carelessness and mischief and still continues to explain to them with love and continues to move along with all of that.  That is not the form of the Satguru; the form of the Satguru is one that makes your thoughts, words and actions truthful, whether He makes you that through knowledge, through your effort, or whether through punishment. 

13.  Other than giving co-operation to Baba's task, you are not giving your co-operation to any wasteful task for even one second, are you?  ……… when you are making effort for self-progress or when you put any plan of service into a practical form, before you create the plan and put it into a practical form, stabilise yourself in your stage of self-respect, and then make any plans or put them into a practical form.  Do not make plans whilst letting go of your stage.  If you create plans having let go of your stage, what will happen then?  There will be no power left.  Without any power, what will the influence of those plans be in a practical form?......  ……  You should not even speak of any impure atmosphere.  If you speak about it, then, just as there is the saying that those who witness a sin being committed also accumulate sin, so too, if someone speaks of a weak or impure atmosphere, then that is also a sin, because at that time, you forget the Father.  When you forget the Father, sin is definitely committed.  If you have the remembrance of the Father, you cannot commit any sin.  Therefore, you should not even speak about it.  …..  When you speak whilst in the awareness of being powerful, you will not speak any wasteful words, you will only speak of the jewels of knowledge. 

14.  Only by being as loving and detached as a lotus flower at every step do you earn multimillions at every step.  …….  The wonder of a teacher is that he makes all others into teachers.  Are you not a teacher?  Since you have a become your own teacher, can you not know the result?  You have to perform this task of making others the same as the Father.  How can you be a teacher if you do not make others into teachers? 

15.  What are these three things through which the fort will become strong?  Firstly, love, secondly, cleanliness and thirdly, spirituality.  ….  … you have to understand the deep philosophy of karma, that is, become a trikaldarshi and then perform every action, for only then will you be able to become karmateet.  …..  If you are a conqueror of attachment, you will become an embodiment of remembrance.  So, first of all, check yourself to see to what extent you have become a conqueror of attachment.

16.  By constantly considering yourself to be in front of BapDada, you will constantly experience yourself to be an almighty authority.  No other almighty authority can attack you who has the Almighty Authority in front of you.  An almighty authority can never be defeated.  ….firstly, faith, secondly, intoxication and thirdly, fearlessness.  …..  When you have these three things in your every action and every word, then your every word and every action will reveal the Almighty Authority. 

17.  By imbibing these powers, you will easily and automatically experience two things in yourselves.  What are those two things?  By constantly considering yourself to be a Shiv Shakti, one with eight arms or eight powers, firstly, you will constantly have the experience of companionship, and secondly, you will constantly experience your stage to be that of a detached observer.  You will experience being both a companion and a detached observer.  In other words, you would call this the stage of a detached observer or the point form.  Or, it is called the experience of companionship, that is, it is called the experience of the avyakt stage.  ….So the company is the constant love of the intellect, and the hand is the hand of shrimat which you will constantly experience with you.  ………  Even when they go to sleep, they do not let go of their weapons.  In the same way, do not forget your eight powers when you go to sleep, that is, you have to keep your weapons with you.  ……  So, can the waves of Godly intoxication and Godly happiness ever finish?  They only finish when the connection with the Ocean is broken, that is, when you let go of the company and the hand.  Then the waves of happiness merge again.  If you constantly experience His company, you will also constantly be saved from performing sinful action, because sinful actions are always performed when in isolation.  When someone steals, lies or is under the influence of sinful actions, which is also called having thoughts or performing actions of impurity, he only performs them when he is alone.  Now, constantly experience yourself to be with the Father and you will not perform these actions.

18.  What main virtue of the perfect stage is visible in your practical action?  Or, what is the special virtue of the perfect stage through which you can recognise whether you are close to your perfect stage or far away?  Now, stabilise yourself in your perfect stage for one second and then tell Baba, what special virtue reveals the perfect stage?  When a soul has created the stage of perfection, what is the praise of his practical action?  That of equanimity.  When there is equanimity in praise and defamation, victory and defeat, it is called the stage of equanimity.  Even at times of sorrow, instead of waves of sorrow on your face and forehead being visible, waves of happiness and joy should be visible.  Whilst hearing defamation, it should not be experienced as being defamation, but as praiseworthy words to make your stage of perfection stronger.  There should be such equanimity.  This is called the stage of closeness to BapDada.  There should not be the slightest difference in your vision or in your attitude.  There should not be the attitude that this one is an enemy, or that this is one who insults me and this is one who praises me.  Let there be the attitude of a well-wisher and the vision of a benefactor.  To be the same to both types is known as having equanimity.  When there isn't equanimity, you are not able to experience blessings from the Father for yourself.  Baba is the blissful One.  If you wish to experience blessings for yoruself from Baba, there is only one method for this: let there constantly be an accurate balance of both aspects.  When there is an accurate balance of love and power, you will automatically continue to receive blessings.  ….. because of a lack of balance, you do not have the blissful life you should have.  So what should you do now?  Keep an accurate balance.  There are many such pairs of things: to be loving and detached, praise and defamation.  This is your family path.  The soul and the body are also two.  Bap and Dada are also two.  World transformation takes place through the activities of both.  …being loving and the embodiment of power.  ….the co-operation between dharma and karma.  ….. be religion (dharma), that is, complete inculcation (dharna), and then ….. a dharamatma, a mahanatma or a karma yogi, …. you should be in solitude and sometimes, you should be entertaining.  …. be in solitude one moment and be entertaining in the next moment.  To the extent that you are mature and serious, to the same extent you should be harmonious.  ….  Anything in its extreme is not good.  …..  When you are complete and there is equanimity in both, then there cannot be any fluctuation. 

19.  Arrogance is also very subtle.  …the feeling of love and of being a well-wisher ….  Some pretend ignorance in order to protect themselves, whereas some really are ignorant.  So, instead of these two things, imbibe self-respect and also humility through which both these two things will finish.  In your thoughts, let there be the awareness of self-respect, and in your words and actions, let there be the stage of humility.  Then arrogance will finish.  You have become philosophers but you have not become spiritual, that is, you have not yet developed this spirit.  Those who stay in the soul conscious stage, in the intoxication of soul consciousness, are called spiritual. 

20.  Just as science is becoming refined, in the same way, is your power of silence and your stage automatically being refined within yourself?  ….  The sign of lightness is that that thing will never come down.  …  When you are light, the effort is reduced. 

21.  Generally also, you can only have a life of constant happiness and peace when you have four things in your life.  Those four things are health, wealth, happiness and being holy.  If you constantly had these four things, you would never experience peacelessness or sorrow in your life. 

22.  In the same way, ask yourself: have you become the unlimited children of the unlimited Father?  Do you accept this?  Do you recognise this?  Then, if you do not engage yourself in the unlimited task, what is your alokik birth for?  What is the benefit if, having taken an alokik birth, you engage yourself in the worldly tasks?  Understand the importance of your birth and the time; only then will you perform an elevated task.  Do not become like gas balloons.  They blow up very well and fly high too, but only for a temporary period.  So you are not such gas balloons, are you?  Achcha.

23.  When you do not consider yourself to be powerful, or you do not constantly stabilise yourself in a powerful stage and awareness, you are defeated.  Where there is awareness, it is impossible to forget.  …  What is the last stage?  That of being a world benefactor.  …..  The souls of the entire world are unhappy, peaceless, diseased beggars.  You have to become benefactors and make the unlimited creation happy and peaceful, and so you should have the attention of being unlimited creators.  Even now, a lot of time is being used for the self.  Is your time spent in battling or do you also use your time for world benefit?

24.  Have you not yet developed the power to face in the same way as the Father does?  The difference is numberwise according to effort.  …..  First of all, He gives light, then He gives might and thirdly, He gives divine insight, that is, the third eye.  If you do not have these three things, you cannot be an intense effort-maker and become like the Father.  First of all, the souls that have come into the total darkness of ignorance need enlightenment, that is, light.  Then, together with light, if you do not have might, you are not able to take the help of the light that you should.  Through the third eye, that is, the divine insight that you receive with this light and might, you can know your past, present and future and your three lives.  Only when you have attained these three things, can you then claim your birthright, that is, your inheritance.  So, first of all, He gives light, might and divine insight.  ….  Do you listen and study the revision course with attention? 

25.   Just as it is essential to look after your body, in the same way, you should continue to have total understanding of the soul as you move along.  Only then will you quickly be able to remain beyond being affected and become perfect.  …..      Constantly check yourself to see what main things affect you.  You must constantly protect yourself from being affected by them, only then will you easily become perfect.  This is the main effort.  …..  You know the methods by which you are not influenced by the company or the food you eat, and so you can make yourself free from effect.  From being sensible, Maya makes you ignorant.  If you constantly remain within the knowledge, that is, if you constantly have sense, then those who are sensible are never affected by anyone.  If someone has protected himself from being affected, it is said: This one is very sensible.  So, Maya, first of all, makes your sense (understanding) weak.  Enemies who oppose you first try to make you weak, and then they attack you.  Only then do they become victorious.  They look for many ways of first making you weak.  In the same way, Maya, the enemy, also makes you weak in your sense (understanding).  You are then not able to understand whether something is right or wrong.  Then, you are affected.  The effect then takes on the form of a defect.  Defects do not allow you to become perfect.  What is your aim?  To become perfect, that is, sixteen celestial degrees complete.  If there is the slightest defect, you become fourteen celestial degrees.  So what aim have you kept?  Those who are sensible will definitely be successful.  Achcha.

26.  You now have to expose the secrets of those who consider themselves to be maharathis.  Make them bow down; then it would be said to be a wonder.  Does your intellect work towards showing such wonders?  Only when you prove the false to be false will there be victory for the truth.  Only then will there be the cries of victory.  Then you will not need to make so much effort.  You need to create plans for this and a method for this, and internally have that intoxication of being the incognito investigators.  It is our duty to expose their secrets.  We are the instruments for this.  Only when you have this zeal and enthusiasm within can this task be accomplished. 

27.  What does anyone who comes here and sees this, who listens to whatever happens here, speak of?  That the way of walking, sitting and speaking etc. of each soul is the same.  This is the speciality they speak of.  So check yourself according to the praise they speak: of the unity, one destination, one method, one discipline. 

28.  You become an embodiment of remembrance when you become a conqueror of attachment.  So, have you become such conquerors of attachment and embodiments of remembrance?  Or, are you at present the embodiments of forgetfulness?  From being an embodiment of remembrance, why do you become forgetful?  There must definitely be some attachment still remaining. 

29.  Do you consider yourselves to be serviceable, sensible and essenceful?  ……. Every thought, every word and every action of those who are serviceable will be worthy of doing service.  Their thoughts will also automatically do service because their thoughts are always for world benefit, that is, they only have world-benefactor thoughts.  Their thoughts will not be wasteful.  They will spend every second of their time doing service through their thoughts, words or actions.  This is known as being serviceable.  When someone has a lokik job or business, his thoughts and actions are automatically according to that.  Not only his thoughts, but that is what he will also see in his dreams.  So, the thoughts of those who are serviceable will automatically be just for service, because this is their business.  ….Sensible means one who has common sense.  Those who are sensible in a lokik way will, first of all, consider everything carefully before taking any step, but here, there is unlimited sense.  The main qualification of those who are sensible is that they will be trikaldarshi and know the three aspects of time in advance and then perform the action.  ….The third are those who are essenceful. 

30.  Are all of you stabilised in your unshakeable, immovable and constant stage?  Are you stabilised in the stage of the mahavirs that is remembered from the previous kalpa?  Are you coming close to your final stage of being a detached observer, cheerful, detached and extremely loving?  Or, is that stage still far off?  ….. those who have an attitude of unlimited disinterest are the conquerors of attachment and the embodiment of remembrance. 

31.  Do you constantly consider yourselves to be clear, divine stars; the divine stars who are the embodiment of remembrance?  ….  Just like light bulbs: there is light in each one, but according to the percentage of the light (wattage), it will spread that far.  So, you have become bulbs, but you do not yet have the percentage of light that there should be.  Now, increase that.  You were also told earlier that one is light, next is a searchlight, and the third is a lighthouse.  There is a variety of stages.  You have become light, but now become a lighthouse and spread light in all four directions and dispel the darkness.  Enable everyone to attain so much light that they are able to see themselves.  …. become such powerful mirrors that you can enable everyone to have a vision of their own selves, that is, as soon as they come in front of you, they forget their body and stabilise themselves in their bodiless form.  In fact, this is the true service and the true success of service.  Achcha.

32.  Be the master in one moment and be the child in the next.  Can you be a karma yogi in one moment and then, in the next moment, go beyond the body and beyond action and become a yogi merged in love?  Have both your thoughts and actions become the same, or is there a difference between your thoughts and your actions?  Have you developed the practice of creating a thought and instantly putting it into a practical form?  Have you travellers of the pilgrimage of remembrance come so close?  Do you experience both these stages to be easy and close?  Whilst having many experiences on the pilgrimage of remembrance, have you become knowledge-full and powerful? 

33.  There are four main subjects of the pilgrimage of remembrance through which you can check how far you have reached.  Even now, some people have the stage that they had before: what is that stage?  That of being separated (viyogi).  The second stage is that they become yogis after being separated.  The third stage is that they become co-operative (sahyogi) after being yogis.  And after being co-operative, the last stage is of being one who has renounced everything (sarva tyaagi).  Whilst keeping all these four subjects in front of you, check how many steps you have climbed. 

34.  Because of not being able to transform your own attitude and vision, you become an obstacle for your own self.  Matter is your creation and you are a master creator.  Then just think: My creation has this power, and if I, a master creator, do not have this power, then are these the qualifications of an elevated soul?  Today, the power of matter is able to do whatever it wants within one second.  This is why the wandering souls of today wish to see an example of the practical proof of the Supreme power, the Godly power and the power of silence.  When someone defames you, you should transform that defamation into benefit within one second.  When others, who are under the influence of their sanskars and nature, come in front of you as a test, with the awareness of your elevated sanskars, you should imbibe the sanskars and nature of being merciful to such souls.  When someone comes in front of you with body-conscious vision, transform his vision into soul-conscious vision within one second.  Someone may come in front you with the intention of making you fall or to bring you under the influence of his bad company.  At that time, on the basis of your elevated company, you should remove him from the influence of bad company and colour him with the colour of your elevated company.  By learning the yukti to bring about such transformation, you will never be defeated by any obstacle.  On seeing this subtle, elevated service of yours, all of those who come into your connection will surrender themselves to you.  Just as when the Father transforms your soul, you give thanks to Him, and you surrender yourself to Him, so too, all the souls who come into your connection will be thankful to you.  It is an easy yukti, is it not?  In any case, any type of vision, any scene, any thing has to be transformed.  This drama is always changing.  You tell people that transformation has to take place, and that everyone has to go to the land of liberation, and that if they destroy their sins before transformation, on the basis of knowledge and yoga, then they can be liberated from experiencing punishment.  Everyone has to return, but whatever each one does, they will receive the return of it.  In the same way, everything is going to be transformed, but, if at the time when something becomes an obstacle in front of you, you are able to transform it on the basis of your own power within one second, you receive the fruit of your effort.  Transformation has to take place, but by transforming something in the right way, in an elevated way, there will be elevated attainment.  If transformation takes place on the basis of time, you will not attain anything.  ….  Today, one little piece of machinery can transform something so much.  It makes something that is absolutely useless become useful; it makes an old thing new.  So, can the subtle machinery of your most elevated powers not transform your own attitude and vision and the attitude and vision of others?  ….Therefore, be the destroyers of obstacles and remain absorbed in love.  With love, even the obstacles will change their form.  The obstacles will not be experienced as obstacles, but they will be instrumental in making you the embodiment of unique experiences.  Even the obstacles will seem like a game.  Big things will be experienced as minor things.  The word "how" will be transformed into "in this way".  The words "I don't know" will be transformed into "I now know everything", that is, you will become knowledge-full.  So, celebrate this year as the special year for bringing about a fast speed in your effort.  Transform yourself and celebrate the special task of transforming the world.  Achcha.