PROFITING FROM THE WORK AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

 There can be many reasons for your weight gain. I am happy that you are staying in happy mood (prasanna-chitta). It is profitable to do hard work with the body. One who wants to keep healthy mind and wants to do sadhana, needs to give lot of importance to hard physical activity. It is definite, that the idle soul will not be able to do sadhana. Many years back, I was visited by man who used to get many bad thoughts in his dreams. He asked me, for the solution of this problem. I told him to work so hard, that his body will be very tired at the days end. This way, he will have improvement in his thoughts during day and also in the dreams. I also instructed him to come back after trying this method. Idle mind keeps thinking a lot and when we are busy with physical work, it does not have as many thoughts. It is a matter of tremendous gain, if we stay engaged constantly in the work. One who work, casts a spell on others. This way you will be well liked and loved by others. They will have good feelings for you. All these is not a trivial matter. 

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Mandan

Edition 3; Page 106.

IMPORTANCE OF HARD WORK

 Perform all the work that come your way with enthusiasm. As you do the work, you will get more work. When you are assigned more work in the family, accept this work with heartfelt enthusiasm and understand that this is the grace-opportunity to train your mind. I firmly believe that physical work is very necessary to keep the body and mind in good shape. This is derived from experiences. It is also my definite understanding that any soul that does not work to the fullest capacity, will not be able to enter deeply in this path (spirituality). For that reason, accept all and any work that comes your way with happiness and perform it to the best of your ability. While doing the work, do Naam-Smaran in the mind with love. Never pay attention to whether anyone appreciates it or not. If, you have a thought like ' I work so much and still nobody appreciates me', you should also know that your mind has not grasped the real meaning of the true Bhavna (intention, purpose) behind the work. 

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Mandan

Edition 3; Page 62.

CHARACTERISTICS OF GENUINE REPENTANCE

 It is not proper, if the memory of all kinds of old associations produce disgust within us and there is no desire to do anything about it. It is best if the fire of heartfelt repentance ignites. This fire of heartfelt repentance does not let us stay in the same condition. It wakes up and propels us further in life. The propensity of the life gets to be higher from genuine repentance. Genuine heartfelt repentance, by holding our hand, brings us out from our old understanding of the mind. It produces an intense disgust regarding the incidence that has resulted in the repentance, so that the mind does not get in the same situation again. If we experience that our mind does not take part in the same kind of incident again, then it can be surmised that the repentance is complete and solid. Keep the understanding in the mind that this is the characteristic of the true repentance. Experience, how much and what kind of repentance was produced by using this gauge.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Mandan

Edition 3; Page 58.

HOW CAN MIND BE HELPFUL?

 Whenever the thought arises in the mind, we need to learn to identify the real form and the root cause of the thought. When we learn the negative form of the thought (meaning it reflects our sentient nature), we have to develop great courage and daring to remove that thought. If we learn the art of identifying the real form of all the thoughts by heart, we will receive many things including strength and inspiration. We have to play with our mind and at the same time, also get its help. Mind possess great strength and it is also very clever. Mind is our friend if we take its help constructively by being definite and carefree. Strength of the mind is not trivial. It has the strength of winning over anything and becoming one with it. We cannot imagine the accomplishments (siddhi, સિધ્ધિ), that reside in this strength of the mind. There is no one more capable than the mind in experiencing oneness with the universe and associating goodness with it. Really speaking this strength of the mind is a mystic energy of the nature. Even then, there is an expression of God in this energy. We can experience the wisdom and energy of the divine consciousness with the help of this energy of the mind. If we think in that manner, mind can help us a lot. We should keep the mind together, stir it up and push it often. We will see the day light, only if we keep on doing all this work. We should be a witness to our mind while performing all the works. There should be an awareness that there is no way out without doing this. Just as, we should not suppress the mental activity, we should not get entangled in it either. We also should neither be swept away nor get stuck in it.

Pujya Shree Mota

Jivan Mandan

Edition 3; Pages 31 - 32.