Thoughts are the medium through which the ego, the limited self, appears and paves the way for all our likes and dislikes, pleasure and pain.
Since you alone are responsible for your thoughts, only you can change them. You will want to change them when you realise that each thought creates according to its own nature. Therefore, start now to think only those thoughts that will bring you health and happiness.
Alone let him constantly meditate in solitude on that which is salutary for his soul, for he who meditates in solitude attains Supreme Bliss.
So long as we believe in our heart of hearts that our capacity is limited and we grow anxious and unhappy, we are lacking in faith. One who truly trusts in God has no right to be anxious about anything.
Fasting in the monastic community is considered an ascetic practice, a “dhutanga” practice. Dhutanga means “to shake up” or “invigoration”. The Buddha, as is well known, emphasized moderation, the Middle Way that avoids extremes, in all things. Fasting is an additional method that one can take up, with supervision, for a time.
If we celebrate the festival with the objective of divine wealth then we will get an experience of supreme Bliss or anand and the desire for worldly inferior pleasures will automatically start reducing, leading to our true Liberation.
Knowing that I am different from the body, I need not neglect the body. It is a vehicle that I use to transact with the world. It is the temple which houses the Pure Self within.
Human beings protect the purity of manmade temples. Similarly, looking after the sanctity of this human body, a temple created by God, should become a spiritual endeavour that is of utmost importance.
