posted December 14, 2007 06:07 PM         

15. Absence of fault-finding and calumny(apaishunam) hastens one's spiritual evolution by freeing the mind from concentration on the weaknesses of others to focus wholly on the full-time job of bettering oneself. A person who, like a detective, is busy observing the shortcomings of others gets a false conviction of superiority - either that he himself is free from those blemishes or is otherwise qualified to appraise others. A critical person rarely perfects his own life.

A habitual critic is like a fly that sits on the moral sores of others. A true devotee, like a bee, sips the honey of good qualities from the hearts of his companions. Jesus said: "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye."

Evil-minded disparagers - gossipers and slanderers - embrace the false notion that they can make themselves taller by cutting off the heads of others. On the contrary, there is no greater diminishment of character than in such behavior. Backbiters offend the God in others and in themselves. The virtuous, unassumingly, uplift others along with their own rise to heights above the small meannesses of lesser fellow beings.

A person who takes pleasure in slander and backbiting never knows the happiness of helping others by wise counsel and encouragement. Denunciation discourages and angers the wrongdoer. In their hearts most men are aware of their infirmities and moral sores. These cannot be healed by caustic irritants of castigation but only by the soothing salve of love.

Nobody trusts those who spread evil instead of good: the gossips, the busybodies, the detectors of others' frailties. The Lord does not publicly expose anyone's shortcomingss, but gives all men a conscience and the chance to correct themselves in the privacy of their soul.

Jesus advised the would-be executioners of an adultress, when they were about to stone her: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." The accusers, remembering their own transgressions, slunk away. Greathearted persons are ever ready, like Christ, to free the sinner by love and to spare condemnation.

posted December 14, 2007 06:19 PM         

negativity is a downward spiral. seems you need more and more to reinforce your intial bad thought; be it judgement, gossip, assumption, whatever it may be.

it is difficult though to live without DISCERNMENT. to be wise and true to yourself, to goodness, to love, and not get pulled into the negative by ignoring it or casting a lovey glow over it.

i am a pisces SN with neptune on the AC (conjunct venus) and have to be very very careful to not see everyone with rose coloured glasses..

posted December 14, 2007 06:48 PM         

"Thoughts are universally and not individually rooted; a truth cannot be created, but only perceived. The erroneous thoughts of man result from imperfections in his discernment. The goal of yoga science is to calm the mind, that without distortion it may mirror the divine vision in the universe."
Paramahansa Yogananda

posted December 14, 2007 07:06 PM         

11.Truth (Satya) is the foundation stone of the universe. "The worlds are built on truth." says the Mahabharata. Men and civilizations stand or fall according to their attitude toward truth.

An Honest person is spontaneously admired by all right-thinking men. The Hindu scriptures, however, point out that a devotee whose ideal is truth should always exercise judgment and common sense before speaking. It is not enough merely to tell the truth; one's words should also be sweet, healing, and beneficial to others. Hurtful statements, however accurate, are usually better left unsaid. Many a heart has been broken and many a life wrecked by truths spoken by others who are not yet ready to hear and profit by his veracious observations.

The Vedas mention three kinds of truth. All values pertaining to man and Nature are relative truths (vyavaharika). These influences human beings during the waking state (jagrat), which is essentially changeful, ever in flux.
All values pertaining to man's ordinary dreams in sleep (svapna state), when he is in touch with his subconscious mind that conjures images in the form of astral phenomena, are imaginary truths (pratibhasika). They have a certain validity, but only in their own restricted realm, which is far more fleeting, vague, and ambiguous than is the world of matter that man perceives in the waking state.

During deep, dreamless sleep (sushupti), and in the samadhi meditation of the yogi, man abides in his true nature, the soul, and cognizes Absolute Truth (Paramarthika).

It is a mistake to think that ordinary persons are never in communion with God or the Ultimate Truth. If all men did not occasionally pass into the state of deep, dreamless sleep, even if only for a period of minutes, they could not live at all. The average person has no conscious recollection of his soul experiences; but, as a part of the Universal Whole, from time to time he must replenish his being from the Source of Life, Love, and Truth.

By honoring the principle of truth in his thoughts, speech, and actions in a devotee puts himself in true with creation and with the Creator. To a greater or lesser extent, all persons who meet such a saint are uplifted by his harmonious vibrations. The true man of God is freed from the painful dualities and contradictions of relativity and is fit, at last, to enter the final refuge of Absolute Truth

Chapter XVI 'Embracing the divine and shunning the demonic' Verses 1-3. "God talks with Arjuna" By Paramahansa Yogananda. (page: 961)