THE FIVE HUMAN VALUES -- PARTS 3, 4, & 5.

RIGHTEOUSNESS

Righteousness or Morality is the fundamental nature of a human being. It can be understood or described as "right conduct, code of conduct, duty and justice, moral obligation". The quality of righteousness is a measure of the dignity in a person.


This righteous morality is behind all relationships between people, their path in the world, their conduct in business or within the family. When this quality is strong, then relationships within society are correct and just. But, when it declines, evil abounds and chaos takes over.

In these days, Righteousness is declining rapidly and humanity is sinking into misery, chaos, fear and mutual hatred. It is within the home that Righteousness should be fostered and developed. When respect for each other in a home declines and the values of morality and religion are not taught, then the decay of Righteousness must affect the fabric of society and eventually the nation.

Birds, beasts and trees, says the Master, have not deviated from their nature; they are still holding it valid. Man alone has disfigured it, in his crude attempt to improve upon it.

We must learn to understand that Man is born for the attainment of joy, not for sheer eating and revelling. Real and lasting joy can be won only by a life led along the path of Righteousness, which, in turn, makes the inherent Divinity of Man shine forth. Obtaining this Illumination is the purpose of life. A constant focus on the indwelling God will promote Love for all beings. One will see the good in others and thereby strive to do good for others.

PEACE

Peace is a spiritual value inextricably woven into a fabric with the other human values. It is the peace known as "the still, small voice of God" within. Peace of mind, heart and soul is sought after by all people, but so seldom found. It is easily disturbed when one chases after worldly pleasures. When ego and desires become rampant in the human heart, Peace will surely disappear.

Peace has detachment as the basic quality. The Master explains: "The sea which likes to gather and possess lies low; but the cloud that likes to renounce and give is high up in the sky."

First and foremost Faith has to be cultivated. This Faith has to be nurtured in Love, and Love is fostered by equanimity. So Man should check his emotions often and not allow his blood to boil or give in and yield to fear. Knowing and understanding that God and Man are One... Joy is the birth-right of all humanity and Peace is our inmost nature.

NON-VIOLENCE

The value of Non-violence incorporates all the others. Here the Master explains: "When Love illumines thought, Truth is revealed. When Love motivates action, it is transformed into Right Conduct (Righteousness). When Love saturates feelings, they become calm and serene and thereby Peace is ensured. When anger, envy, greed and hatred are cast away, Love dawns as understanding and Non-violence will reign supreme."

Non-violence shows itself as total respect for other people and all creation. There is a clear relationship between Non-violence and the other virtues as you will see. Violence is not only physical in its manifestation, but is also an internal state in the form of anger. Therefore refraining from violence also entails refraining from violence in mood and thought as well as deed.

When the principle of Non-violence is fully understood, the desire to eat meat drops away. This is because Non-violence means avoiding causing harm to anyone or any being by thought, word or deed. Every person should lead their life that no pain is caused by them to any living thing. This is Man´s supreme duty, yet to be understood by many.

Finally, Non-violence lies behind respect for the Earth and its resources, as well as respecting the environment of other people. In the business and industrial world, Non-violence has a wider social meaning than merely avoiding harm to others. The avoidance of pollution of the atmosphere or of natural resources like rivers etc., is one of the ways in which an enterprise can practise Non-Violence. In such ways, a great deal of good can be done.

The Master has also pointed out that the glorification and entertainment of violence in our cinemas, television and video games is extremely disruptive for spiritual growth, particularly in young people.

These articles are taken from the teachings of Bhagavan Sathya Sai.

THE FIVE HUMAN VALUES -- PART 1 & 2

These human values are absolute and are Divine by nature. They are necessary for the happiness of the individual and the functioning of mankind. Without these values, humanity degenerates into barbarism. But with these values practised faithfully, humanity ascends to Divinity.


These five precious values are as follows :

TRUTH
PURE LOVE
RIGHTEOUSNESS
PEACE
NON -VIOLENCE
The spiritual values are inter-dependent, in that as one becomes more loving, so one will also become more truthful, virtuous, peaceful and non-violent. However, each also has its own aspect which it is important to understand.

Our "character" is the only real wealth that every human being has. People who are remembered as great, are so remembered, not through the material treasures they have won, or the power they wielded, but by the character they displayed. Therefore the cultivation of good character is fundamental to worldly reputation as well as spiritual influence.

TRUTH

"Absolute Truth" is God. It is the unchanging basis of the Universe. We must learn to understand that all is God, as God is all there is!! Each and every one of us is an aspect of the Divine in manifestation. This is the fundamental Truth of all life. Nothing exists apart from or outside of God.

"Relative truth" involves the importance of Truthfulness and is an absolute value. A master will always teach that it is better to remain silent than speaking the truth when it will cause harm. It is better to be silent than to tell a truth which will hurt someone or tell a lie which will corrupt a situation, even if one considers telling a small, white lie. It is far better adhering to truthfulness and living in peace with oneself than sliding into falsehood. Falsehood looks easy and profitable, but it binds one and pushes one into a life of self destruction.... on many levels.

PURE LOVE

The nature of God is Pure and Uncondtional Love. When we love others, we love the God within them and thereby we are loving God at the same time. So it is wise to remember that when we hate or despise others, we are also hating and despising God.

It is through love that God created the world. Love is the basic energy of the Universe and is therefore the most powerful of all energies. The lack of Love causes illness in people and is behind most, if not all, problems. At the same time, Love which is limited is behind most evils. Love of one´s country, a positive virtue, turns to evil when it is used to persecute or make war on peoples of other countries.

A Love that is pure and selfless is unconditional and showered on all life. The spark of Love in you has to be cherished and fed, so that it may reach God. Love the God in all beings, and the God in all beings responds with Love.

The Masters tell us that there is nothing more precious than Love within our human grasp.


To be continued.... (Parts, 3, 4 & 5).

THE FUTILITY OF WAR -- PART THREE

I ask you, therefore, in this year of resolution to go deeply within yourselves and to seek your peace for, truly, that peace is the only peace that endures. If you do not have peace in your hearts then you do not have peace in your thoughts, your words or your deeds. You cannot achieve peace by war. You cannot achieve peace by violent action, by aggression. YOU CANNOT ACHIEVE PEACE BY THE DESTRUCTION OF THAT WHICH THREATENS PEACE.

No Peace by War

If you have destroyed an enemy that threatens you, you may have removed that enemy from the physical plane of Earth but what of the thought-forms and the energies that you have created? What of the energies of hatred and revenge you have created? What of the beings who will come back and inherit the mantle of those thought-forms and energies?

Where Is The Victory?

Peace, therefore, involves the quality of humility, of personal surrender. If someone wishes to fight you and you refuse to fight, where is the victory? Though that person may achieve that which they desire they will not be fulfilled by their "victory" if there has been no struggle to achieve it, if it has been given to them freely with love. What is the real nature of surrender? All of you as individuals find it so difficult to surrender, yet the example of all the great Masters has been just that: the release of the physical in loving surrender and from that act of release comes great strength.

If you consider some of the people of this Earth who have stood for peace, who by their very demonstration have shunned war, if you consider the impact that they have had on Humanity you will see that their example is remembered far more than the example of the generals and the soldiers, who achieved peace through war. Peace can be achieved for only a short time through war. That form of peace never lasts. The everlasting peace is the peace that you create with your hearts, with the love that comes from within.

Not Imposing Dominion

Peace is an individual creation. It begins with one person then spreads to two and then to four and so on. Peace is an energy of wholeness which begins individually and then expands. Peace cannot be imposed by above. Peace cannot be imposed by any greater country, by any greater force. Is it not strange that with so many other beings in our Solar Body, with so many other evolved life-forms in our Galaxy, no one seeks to wage war on you? If there are these highly evolved beings from other planets, who visit the Earth in their space ships, with the cosmic power that they possess they could easily establish dominion over this planet and over Humanity as a whole. But they do not do that, rather they seek only to help Humanity along its evolutionary path.

There perhaps is the lesson that you should observe. When you have the power, when you have the consciousness, when you have the ability to impose dominion, you do not use it for self aggrandisement. Your space brothers respect your individuality, allow you the freedom to be what you want to be, to evolve at your own pace, to walk your own path and seek your own destiny. You too should give that freedom and that choice to all those around you.

A Greater Power

So during these critical years, when so much is being decided on the plane of Earth, be strong in yourselves. Know that there is a force that protects you, a power that is greater than any weapon that Humanity will ever create: Divine Love. Recognize that Divine Will controls all things on your plane of life. The note which you sound, the understanding of life which you exhibit, they are your protection. Inner peace is reflected in outer harmony and even though you are faced by energies of extreme disharmony they will not affect you.

Understand Life´s Oneness

Therefore seek that inner peace, seek that inner wisdom. Know it as the one-ness of your Creator, know it as the one-ness of life. Seek that one-ness in all things and you will find that peace, the peace that passes all understanding. Do not think that it is beyond your comprehension, beyond your attainment. Do not think that it can only be obtained through long periods of meditation and prayer and soul-searching. It can be obtained in the twinkling of an eye, in the understanding of the divinity in one´s self, in one´s purpose, in one´s destiny. That is the lesson of these divisive times, the nature of the choice that faces you all, for there are days coming when there will be war, there are days coming when there will be destruction and death. You must choose now whether you are to be a part of it or to rise above it.

This article is taken from "The Fantastic Teachings of Ramala".

THE FUTILITY OF WAR -- PART TWO

 

When can it be said that you are truly at peace? You are in a state of peace when you are at one with your Creator´s Will. When you are in tune with the Infinite you are at peace, and in order to be in tune with the Infinite you have to be self-less, you have to become part of the one-ness of all life, you have to become at one with the Godhead.

The One-ness of Life

If Humanity would but recognize its one-ness, its wholeness or holiness, there would be no need for war. If there were not political, financial or racial divisions there would be no war. Recognize that it is the divisions which Humanity creates that are the seeds of discontent, the seeds which lead to war. Consider in your own lives how often you are at war in your everyday relationships, not only with the people around you but with the other Kingdoms of Matter.

Be aware of how often you are not at one with the Infinite, of how often you make war to get what you want, what you desire, what you wish to achieve, no matter what the cost to those around you or to those who sacrifice to you.

So Little Is Gained

As you look back at Humanity´s past wars you can see that little has actually been gained though millions of people have died. Outwardly it may seem that one country has been prevented from taking over another country, a financial interest has been defended, an ideology has been preserved, but what of that country, that financial interest, that ideology, fifty or sixty years later? The countries that intiated the last World War have achieved many of the aims they sought militarily through other means.

The countries which were your enemies fifty and sixty years ago are now your friends, those which were your friends are now your enemies. It is obvious, therefore, that the sides which oppose each other in war, the power structures which conflict with each other, are human, temporal creations. It is not a question of right or wrong, of goodness or evil, of one side being for God and the other against God, for all is of God. Those that make war are, in a sense, fulfilling the Divine Plan.

Growth And Evolution

It must, of course, be said that God Itself does not desire or initiate war directly as a lesson for Humanity. War is a lesson which Humanity creates of its own choice. Nevertheless, it also cannot be denied that in the act of war great growth and evolution takes place for Humanity. Is it not strange how in a country at war people unite together as never before. The little differences which formerly seperated them are forgotten in the hour of crisis.

As people are faced with the suffering and the loss of war, as they discover the frailty of human existence, so they come to terms with the reality and purpose of life and death and recognize that they take place every minute of the day. That understanding of life, of course, is there for you to grasp whether there is war or not, but in time of war many people achieve great evolutionary breakthroughs in consciousness.

Part Three Follows....

This article is taken from "The Fantastic Teachings of Ramala".

THE FUTILITY OF WAR -- PART ONE

In this World there is a constant threat of war mainly because of the nature of Humanity´s political and financial empires. Much of the struggle that takes place between these empires is hidden from public view.



A Constant Threat

As ordinary individuals living your lives you are far removed from the machinations of those who control these empires. Indeed, you have very little idea of the plans that have been made and are ready to be implemented should the decision be made to go to war on any level.

Throughout the known history of Humanity there has always been war. Hardly a decade has gone by without one country or tribe fighting another country or tribe either to acquire a piece of land, to protect its boundaries and sphere of influence or to gain an advantage that was not held previously. The fact that there has not been a major war for so many years is only because the major powers of the World cannot see a way of achieving victory without great loss to themselves.

If a victory without too great a loss could have been achieved then there would have been war. You are, however, approaching a time of planetary resolution, a time when cosmic factors from beyond the plane of Earth will impel the major powers of this World to make far-reaching decisions, a time when the separatism of the past will have to go, either to be surrendered consciously and willingly or else to be removed forcibly from the plane of Earth.

Seeking Peace

All over the World today there are many who seek peace. They seek it in many ways: through peace movements, through writing and journalism, through marching and demonstration, through religion and prayer. But will they achieve peace in this way? Why has peace always eluded Humanity? Many people see peace simply as the absence of war but, as you well know, that is not true peace, for that form of peace is but an extension of war, especially if you are still plotting and planning to make war.

Peace is not the interval between wars. Can there indeed ever be peace while acts of mental aggression are taking place and weapons of mass destruction are being made? Can one achieve peace simply by getting rid of nuclear weapons or by stating that one is not prepared to use them unless one is oneself threatened by extinction?

International Politics = Power and Greed

The answer to all these questions is something which you as individuals are being forced to consider at this time because of the nature of international politics. Bet before you can do this you first have to decide the nature of your own peace, what you are prepared to accept or reject, to stand up and fight for or to surrender. I think it would be true to say that most people today seek peace externally. They feel that peace is something which has to be achieved through negotiation, through agreement, through reconciliation, but peace has never come to the plane of Earth through such methods.

Although a compromise may be agreed upon and the conflict of interests reconciled, after a few years the old enmities return since the desire for victory is still there. Even though the older generations may remember the scourge of war, there are still politicians who are prepared once again to resort to war as an instrument of national or tribal policy.

An Inward Expression

Can you not see, therefore, that peace is an inward expression. There cannot be peace outwardly unless there is peace inwardly. Moreover, it is the nature of your own inner peace that will decide your fate in the conflicts that are to come, for if you are at peace inwardly then the nature of the energy that you create and send out will attract peace unto you. You are all magnetic beings, attracting unto yourself according to the note that you send out, and though others may be at war you will be at peace. Though others may be engaged in war, though you may be surrounded by war, you need not be a part of it.

At this very moment in time consider how much of your World is in a state of war. Hundreds of thousands of human beings are killing themselves each year and yet you are not a part of that suffering and that slaughter. That is soon to change. Pressures will soon come upon the Western Civilization that will stretch the peace alliances to breaking point. Pressures will come not only from without but also from within. Therefore you, as individuals, at this time of resolution should resolve within your own hearts what is the nature of your own peace.

Part Two Follows....This article is taken from "The Fantastic Teachings of Ramala".