10 Steps

RAMI BLECKT

10 Steps To Happiness A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO PERSONAL FULFILLMENT AND OPTIMUM WELL-BEING

2010

Rami Bleckt. 10 Steps To Happiness. Practical Guide to Personal Fulfillment. In any large bookstore you will find multiple books on how to succeed in life, to become happy, and to get rid of diseases. The majority of these books give many practical recommendations; almost every one of them promises to easily turn you from a poor stepdaughter into a happy Cinderella. But if you turn to the statistics, you will learn that the number of happy and healthy people is declining. In the author’s opinion, the reason for this is that there are no deep inner changes. It is a person’s character, mentality, and programs of the subconscious mind that determine their fate. Without changing them and correct understanding of the main principles of the Universe, the real changes will not happen. Any changes on the external level only, in behavior, often lead to accumulation of aggression and irritation; a person becomes hypocritical, and after a while the misfortunes and depressions return on a much larger scale. For example, the popular advice “make plans and strictly stick to them” reinforces egoism; “smile at everybody,” if it does not come from the heart, will lead to hypocrisy; “take life lightly, do not show disappointment” pushes the negative emotions deep inside. That is why in this book, along with practical recommendations, you will find quite profound philosophical ideas, explained in simple words. Just by reading these, you can get rid of conscious and subconscious negative agenda, inner complexes, grievances, fears, and all that prevents us from being happy, healthy, and successful. This book is for everybody, no matter his or her age or social level, who is ready to devote some time to attentive reading of this book and with its help to try to become healthy and happy. First published in 2010. Website: www.bleckt.ca © 2010. Rami Bleckt. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Translation: Karina Bchemyan. Editor: Lev Pertzovitch Proof-readers: Patricia Rafferty, Julia Shell and Olga Shiryaeva Book orders and other information (trainings, consultations, etc):

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Books in Russian and Lithuanian orders: www.bleckt.com, [email protected] Your feedbacks are most welcomed. Please, email author: [email protected]

DEDICATION I dedicate this book to the memory of my dear mother Ludmila, who unfortunately did not live to see its publication. My mother was my friend and my first Guru. This book being published is largely due to her. In our last conversation, shortly before the end of her life, she asked me to find a remedy from sufferings and diseases. Back then I thought: Why is she asking me? I am neither a pharmacist nor a doctor. But later I realized that only true knowledge can save a person from sufferings and diseases and make them happy.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express much appreciation to my wife Marina for her valuable critical comments and for having seen to it that nothing disturbed me from writing this book. Many thanks to my friends, Vytautas Rinkevicius, for his highly useful comments and advice, and Arkady Zilberman, for his help in arranging the publication of this book. I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Karina Bchemyan for her efforts in translating this book, to Rabbi Lev Pertzovitch for his excellent editing and proofreading work, as well as to Julia Shell, Zulfat Khismatulin, Patricia Rafferty, Ellen Korotaev and Olga Shiryaeva for their essential advice and additions, and Sergey Medvedev for his assistance in publishing this book.

CONTENTS Dedication ............................................................................................3 Acknowledgements .............................................................................4 An Appeal to English-Speaking Readers ..........................................9 A Word from the Author .....................................................................11 Step One You can only Reach your Goal if you Envisage it ...........................15 1.1. Goals are the Primary Source of Energy ....................................................................18 1.2. A Life’s Goal must be Inspiring and Divine ................................................................19 1.3. Our Life Depends on the Level and Quality of Energies we Live on ............................20 1.4. The Qualities of our Character Determine our Fate ..................................................21 1.5. Any Great Deed is always Connected with the Death of the Ego ...............................23 1.6. See Clearly and Walk Confidently ..............................................................................25 1.7. A Harmonious Individual has Goals on all Levels .....................................................26 1.8. A Path is Comprised of Many Steps ...........................................................................28 1.9. There is no Person, just Ideas and Ambitions; If there are no Ambitions, there is no Person, no Complete Personality .................................................................................30 1.10. The Last Word Always Belongs to... God .................................................................31 1.11. Facts to Ponder ...........................................................................................................33

Step Two Ability to Live by the Soul’s Desires Means to be Healthy, Happy and Successful ............................................................................................................35 2.1. To be able to Hear One’s Heart, One must Stop Being a Slave of Baser Instincts ..................35 2.2. Striving for Happiness Deprives You of Happiness ..................................................37 2.3. Our Desires are the Cause of our Sufferings ............................................................39 2.4. Practical Recommendations. Basic Methods of Goal Achievement ...........................42 2.5. Rely upon the Higher Power .......................................................................................43 2.6. Do not put Anyone on a Pedestal ...............................................................................44 2.7. One becomes the Object of One’s Thoughts .............................................................46

Step Three Every Life is a Unique Mission .........................................................49 3.1. Life is a Vocation, and it is very Important to Find It .................................................49 3.2. How to Find One’s Calling and Mission, and Live according to It ................................50 3.3. Issues for Self-analysis ...............................................................................................53 3.4. Real Stories ..................................................................................................................54 3.5. What is a Psychophysical Nature? .............................................................................57 3.6. Understanding One’s own Calling ..............................................................................60

3.7. Practical Recommendations ......................................................................................63 3.8. Food for Thought ........................................................................................................66 3.9. The Spiritual Approach ..............................................................................................68 3.9.1. Great is the One who Serves .................................................................................69 3.9.2. Whoever was the First on Earth will be the Last in Heaven ................................71 3.9.3. A Role is Unimportant, the Way you Play it is Important .....................................72 3.9.4. An Expert’s Answer .................................................................................................73

Step Four How to Overcome Apathy and where to Derive Energy ................76 4.1. Is it Possible to Always be Happy? ...........................................................................76 4.2. Spiritual Homeostasis ................................................................................................77 4.3. A Real-Life Incident ....................................................................................................79 4.4. How do we Receive Subtle Energy? .........................................................................81 4.5. When we Lose Subtle Energy ...................................................................................82 4.6. Black Color Devours Light; White Color Reflects it .................................................85

Step Five Understanding the Main Principle of the Universe ........................89 5.1. Philosophizing at the Lowest Point of the Earth ......................................................90 5.1.1. Personal Realizations ..............................................................................................95 5.2. The Art of Accepting Gifts .........................................................................................98 5.3. We can Make Others Happy by Accepting Something from Them .............................100 5.4. What is Paradise? .....................................................................................................101 5.4.1. A Parable ................................................................................................................102 5.5. Logical Proof of the Importance of Divine Love .....................................................103 5.5.1. Common Sense and Love .....................................................................................104 5.5.2. Love and Health .....................................................................................................105 5.5.3. It is Impossible to Succeed in Business Without Love .......................................105 5.5.4. Attitude of Psychology to Love .............................................................................106 5.5.5. Religions and Love ................................................................................................108 5.5.6. Astrology and Love ................................................................................................111

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How to Live a Sinless Life ...........................................................................115 6.1. Three Main Causes of Sin .........................................................................................115 6.2. How to Distinguish Attachment from Love ..............................................................121 6.3. There is only One Sin ................................................................................................123 6.4. Aggression has Many Faces ....................................................................................123 6.5. Practical Recommendations on how to Get Free of Negative Feelings and Habits .........................125 6.6. Some Advice and Food for Thought .......................................................................127

Step Seven How to Survive in Difficult Conditions While Becoming Happier and Wiser..129 7.1. A Reply to a Spiritual Warrior ...................................................................................129 7.2. A Spiritual Warrior’s Philosophy ..............................................................................131 7.3. A Real-Life Story .......................................................................................................132

Step Eight Understanding the Meaning of Illness, and Ways to Overcome It ..136 8.1. A Disease is a Lesson ..............................................................................................136 8.2. Six Stages of a Disease ...........................................................................................141 8.3. Causes of Illness .......................................................................................................142 8.4. Theories of Modern Medicine ..................................................................................143 8.5. Basic Principles on the Way to Recovery ...............................................................144 8.6. Food for Thought .......................................................................................................146

Step Nine Your Life Begins After you Overcome the Fear of Death .............149 9.1. A Few Words from Myself .........................................................................................149 9.2. Who Said that We Need to be Afraid of Death? .....................................................150 9.3. Practical Recommendations to those who have Gone Through or are Facing Serious Stress ..................................................................................................................155 9.4. The Soul never Dies. We are Eternal ......................................................................156 9.5. Tears are a Display of Pity to Ourselves .................................................................158 9.6. The Best Gift for ... the Dead ....................................................................................159 9.7. Death is a Curse Only in Case of Suicide ...............................................................161 9.8. Some Methods of Neutralizing the Effect of Suicide .............................................161 9.9. The Almighty Understanding. A Parable ................................................................162

Step Ten Our Speech as a Basis and Indication of Perfection ...................163 10.1. We Live the Way we Speak ....................................................................................163 10.2. Our Health and Material Wellbeing Depend on our Speech ..............................164 10.3. Speech is a Manifestation of Life Power ..............................................................165 10.4. Karma is Determined by our Speech ....................................................................166 10.4.1. Our Thoughts Determine our Speech ................................................................167 10.4.2. Rules of Reasonable Speech .............................................................................168 10.5. Three Levels of Speech .........................................................................................169 10.6. Gratitude is the First Step towards Harmony and Love ......................................172 10.7. Complaints are the First Step to Disease and Misfortune ...................................173

Conclusion ........................................................................................177 About the Author .................................................................................180 Rami recommends you to read ...........................................................................181 Testimonials ..............................................................................................................183

An Appeal to English-Speaking Readers I am delighted that this book is being published in English and am indebted to those who have helped make this a reality, through their enthusiasm and determination. Those who have assisted were inspired after reading the Russian edition of the book. These people are of various religions, ages and nationalities: Christians, Jews, Sufis (Islamic religious movement), Hindus and yogis, as well as people who are not strict adherents of any religion, yet who just want to be happy, healthy and successful. English-speaking people have managed to create many of the prosperous states throughout the world where people of various nationalities and religions are welcome to live. Now I am living in Canada and feel comfortable here because I myself have a mixture of different bloods: Russian, Jewish, Ukrainian, English and even Finnish (from my great-great-grandmother). I grew up in Central Asia and have had lots of Muslim and Buddhist friends since childhood. I have always wanted to find laws and principles that may allow all people, irrespective of their age, nationality or religion, to quickly achieve personal fulfillment. After this book was published in Russian, I received numerous responses from readers showing their appreciation for the ideas I had tried to convey. I was informed by the Russian publishing house that the second edition of the book was a best-seller in August 2009. Although I don’t use Jewish canons in this book, the English translation was edited by a Rabbi who believes that this book will be useful for everyone and that it must appear in the English language. I sincerely hope that this book will be interesting and helpful for you, too! With love, Rami

A Word from the Author The biographies of the people who have achieved success in their activities are somewhat alike. As a child I could be hardly called healthy and successful, and my emotional experiences of happiness were few and far between. I was far from being healthy and strong. My photograph at about 8 years old showed a skinny boy in shorts, with a large stomach, of rather frail appearance. Doctors foretold for this child a life full of illnesses, some of them lasting, which would require taking many different medicines and chemicals to somehow support the feeble organism. But my parents could not agree with this diagnosis, and they cultivated within me a love for toughening up and sport. I am really lucky to have such great parents and grandparents. They were all very intelligent people, possessed with a good deal of humor and worldly experience, which they all put into my upbringing. If you have a look at my pictures when I was 16-17 years old, you will see an athletic young man who has practically forgotten all about his sufferings of the past, and who is up to all difficult sports qualifying standards. By the time I graduated from university I was not only an all-round competitions master, but also was able to carry out a number of candidate qualifying standard tasks, and was a first-grade sportsman in many sports. But at that time I discovered that succeeding in sports does not guarantee the absence of physical diseases. Afterwards, on getting to know the principles of a healthy lifestyle, I was able to escape many illnesses much more effectively than through practicing extensive training sessions. Over the years, I also came to understand the real meaning of the word “success”. I have observed, communicated with, and later consulted many people who were considered successful by many. 11

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10 Steps To Happiness Practical Guide to Personal Fulfillment

But it was difficult to call them happy, since the exciting feeling due to their material achievements and financial wellbeing cannot last long. All of them had at least one aspect of life that gave them pain, that disturbed their feeling of total satisfaction: whether it was problems with children, health, family life or social interaction, etc. I became thoughtful about what success is. Can we consider a person successful if he is not happy? Must success always be connected with the achievement of a certain status or wealth? The present book is based on ancient treatises dedicated to the subject of health and psychology. The truths expressed in them have stood the test of time and are corroborated by modern scientific research. First of all, we rely upon Ayurveda, the medicine given by God thousands of years ago. This is medicine where happiness and success are interconnected and supplement each other. Harmonization of health, happiness and success was considered impossible to achieve without the precise philosophical understanding of our Universe and without deep internal changes. Success, happiness and health are unachievable until one learns how to properly establish one’s objectives, until one realizes that one’s life is a mission and one must live according to it, until one understands the basic principle of Creation and makes the first step on one’s way to recovery, until one understands where one can derive energy, until one gets rid of the fear of death and develops a proper attitude towards the blows of fate, until one learns how to use proper speech. The above issues along with some other topics will be covered in the present book. In order to understand and realize all these truths, deceptively simple at first sight, I had to undergo many severe trials: being an army officer, five years of living in an Indian Ashram as a monk, deaths of relatives and close friends. I almost died myself from a

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painful illness, fell down in a faulty plane, froze in a stormy field at minus 20 degrees... I have made so many painful mistakes... Now I can hardly remember the last time I felt unhappy or failed to get what I had aimed at achieving. But this is only now... What it has only cost me... Thus, one of the major objectives of this book is to help you become healthy, happy and prosperous in a short period of time, avoiding unnecessary buffets of fate. Why should anybody repeat others’ mistakes? Many of the questions discussed here were previously entrusted by the enlightened sages in monasteries or in closed esoteric societies. But I think it is time for everybody to get to know these great truths. I do not aim at propagandizing any philosophical or spiritual teaching. The most important thing for me is to help the reader escape misfortunes, illnesses and sufferings as much as possible, and begin a new life filled with ever-increasing happiness. This is precisely the way we were created by God, but we are given the right of free choice. Many times, by choosing things that lead us away from a harmonious and happy life, we find ourselves on such a low level that we consider a “normal” person incapable of constant happiness. But with each chapter of this book, getting steadily closer to your natural state, you will discover that there are but a few steps to reach happiness.

STEP ONE You can only Reach your Goal if You Envisage it Several thousand years ago the great sage Patanjali said: “When you are inspired by an exalted goal or some extraordinary idea, all your thoughts begin to tear the shackles which confine them. Your mind exceeds its limits, your conscience pushes away the boundaries of your abilities in all directions and you begin living in a new large and beautiful world. Dormant powers, capabilities and talents come to life and you find yourself much greater than you have ever imagined.” In ancient times the sages believed that an individual’s life starts from the moment one asks oneself: “Who am I? What is the meaning of my life? What do I live for?” Until then a human being merely leads the life of a refined animal; worrying only about eating, sleeping, copulating and self-defending. It reminds me of an old joke: “Doctor, am I going to live?” “What’s the point?” Therefore, the first thing we must do is to ask ourselves these questions and do our best to find the answers. Ayurveda asserts that our health comprises four constituent parts, and the World Health Organization quotes almost word for word the lines of the ancient Ayurvedic treatise, the Sushruta Samhita, defining health as full physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual wellbeing. The third level is called Swastha (literally “established in oneself”), which is actually an intellectual or psychological level. At this level the person must answer the abovementioned questions;

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otherwise he cannot be healthy, happy and successful. This level is also considered to be the most important. Of course, first of all, a person must understand profound philosophical questions on the creation of the Universe, the Creator and the nature of one’s true Self. A person should know the basic laws of this creation and have a clear understanding of their life’s purpose. A Teacher once asked his disciple: “What is the most terrible tragedy of human life?”. “It might be that a person cannot find answers to his questions,” answered the disciple. “No, the tragedy is that he cannot find questions worth answering,” replied the teacher. Even ordinary people, uninterested in deep philosophical questions but wanting to be healthy and successful, must have a goal and understand clearly what they want from life. The precise delineation of our wishes (in all spheres of life) is the main prerequisite for their accomplishment. It is already generally recognized that our thoughts are at the basis of everything, i.e. by means of our thoughts and desires we create the reality around us. Desire is the most powerful force in our universe. “When a person totally dedicates himself to something, the course of the Universe changes to help him,” wrote Goethe. According to statistics, slightly less than 3% of all the people in our society have achieved much more than all the others put together. One of the distinguishing features that set them apart from the rest was that they could see their goals clearly and were able to plan their life. To illustrate this issue, there was experiment in Harvard University in the U.S., initiated in 1953, where all the graduates were questioned about whether they had a life goal and how they aspired towards it. It turned out that less than 3% possessed concrete goals in life and had a clear understand-

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ing of what they want from life. By following the students’ success through the succeeding 25 years, it was found out that those very graduates succeeded in all aspects of life, much more than the rest taken as a whole. This is completely understandable, as everything, from an enterprise to a construction project, is started from a business plan or a design. The more time we spend thoroughly thinking out each detail, the better the results will be. Who would want to live in a house designed in a hurry, or to drive a car made by a careless engineer? But unfortunately, we are even more careless about our life. Practically none of us know exactly what we want from life. I can assert this with confidence, on the basis of consulting thousands of people, conducting different seminars, training sessions and lectures in many countries all over the world. I was really amazed to find these questions taking people by surprise, and even when someone did answer, it was immediately clear that they were not sincere and that the answers were not thought out. As a rule, the declared goals are either too materially minded or appear to be postulations memorized during the course of some spiritual practice. Only a few people said that their goal was love, and only a few successful businessmen had their life’s mission written on paper and knew what they wanted in life and how exactly to get it. I also came across the other extreme: after taking some seminars and courses they had their plans written out across several pages. These included purchases of several villas in various parts of the world, a helicopter, a yacht, and so on. The only thing that was necessary to achieve this was to sell as many commodities of a particular company as possible. Whether we like it or not, the law of this world is: if we do not write our own life script, someone else will do it for us.

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1.1. Goals are the Primary Source of Energy We get gross energy from food, but subtle energy is derived from enthusiasm, which appears due to the existence of higher goals. A person who is merely aimlessly floating in life cannot be happy, as we need to have meaning in our life. A meaningful life is a basic necessity of our soul, and having life’s goals can fill it with this meaningfulness. Helen Keller, a blind invalid since childhood, achieved a lot in life. When she was asked how she had always been able to be so happy in spite of being disabled, she replied: “Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” With these words she proved the ancient wisdom: The eternal feeling of happiness consists of the continuous effort of reaching one’s goals and in the steadfast progress towards life’s ultimate goal. In our civilization it is accepted belief that bodily comfort is the basic prerequisite for happiness, but what we require in reality is something to inspire and awaken enthusiasm within us. We must possess a goal worth living for, for which we should want to get up every morning. Additionally, having a goal in our life is powerful enough to relieve us from suffering. For example, a woman giving birth to her long-awaited child may fail to sense any pain during delivery. On the other hand, a person occupied with a meaningless job will be irritated by any trifle.

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1.2. A Life’s Goal must be Inspiring and Divine In order to energize us, our life’s goal should be something high, aimed at the well-being of the world, and somewhat... unattainable. The best choice (and the only correct one) is to achieve love for God, the Divine love. The consequences of this may include: accomplishing unity with God, breaking free of egoism, spreading the Divine love all over the world, bringing salvation, etc. To make the tasks more concrete, you may put them like this: find a remedy for an incurable disease, cause a culture revival in your nation, etc… In this respect, if we establish our life’s ultimate purpose at a low level, then we subject our life to a great risk, as after attaining this temporary goal, your subconsciousness may tell you: “That’s it, you have attained everything you aimed for and there is no point in living further.” A person may then fall into a state of severe depression, become ill or even die. As a rule, even establishing a new temporary goal will not save us, as subconscious objectives cannot be changed within days. For example, if a person sets himself a goal: to uphold a doctor’s thesis, make a million, have a successful marriage, provide good education for one’s children, etc., then upon attaining this goal a person runs into an energy wall and loses a taste for life. The most vivid example is of people whose career achievement is their life’s most important goal, who quickly fade away after losing their job. “Truly rational people who have a philosophical cast of mind should endeavor only for that purposeful end which is unattainable no matter how hard one seeks across this Universe.” Srimad Bhagavatam 1.5.18

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1.3. Our Life Depends on the Level and Quality of Energies we Live on The conclusions recently drawn by modern scientists are: 1. Everything around us, even our arm, is vibrating energy. 2. There is a law of attraction: we are attracted to things we think of. It is obvious that the quality of our life depends on the level of energies we live on, which in turn depends on the level of our goals. For example, if a person lives with the dream of avenging himself on somebody, of doing anything evil, then he is taking energy from anger, resentment and jealousy, and these energies are self-destructive by nature. Generally speaking, all desires come from the false ego, and no matter how honorable they may sound, they lead to moral degradation, gloom and misfortune, being egoistic in the core of their nature. The synonym of egoism is a cancerous cell, which is indifferent to the rest of the organism because of its own interests. These may be desires such as snatching some advantage, achieving some status, gaining popularity, or even helping someone while hoping to get something in return. On the other hand, the desires of our soul are altruistic and unselfish by nature and give us great inspiration and happiness. For example, sit down and tell yourself: “I will bring light and love into this world; no matter what happens, no matter how hard a lesson fate deals me, no matter how the people around me treat me, I will always be the Almighty’s servant and will bring light and love into this world”. After some time, set yourself a different aim:

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“I will live in this world only for myself, possibly for my family, and at most, for my nation. Life is short, so I will try to derive as much personal pleasure from it as possible and obtain the most prestige. I will achieve this no matter what happens, and harshly punish anyone who stands in my way.” I think you can easily feel the difference in your psychological state. In the first example, a normal person will experience the feeling of joy and uplift, whilst in the second he will feel strained and restricted (this test is meant for people who have not yet deteriorated below the animal level). According to observations of modern scientists, in the first case, all the person’s body organs begin functioning harmoniously, and as some eye-witnesses can confirm, even standing near these people (even near the graves of such people), who live on bringing light and happiness to this world, can impart a sensation of bliss and may cure a severe illness. In the second case, self-destructive processes begin acting in the organism, and even standing next to such people may cause negative emotions or even physical illness, even if these people are smiling at you.

1.4. The Qualities of our Character Determine our Fate “The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them.” Albert Einstein

Now we have gradually reached a topic that is the basis of Eastern psychology, which explains that the qualities of our character determine our fate. A difficult character has a severe fate.

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We often cite an old English proverb: “Thought produces action, action makes habit, habit shapes character, and character creates fate.” However, originally in Eastern psychology the saying was more precise: “The reasons for success in all spheres of our life are correctly built relationships. However, the cause of such relationships is our culture. Culture is the external portrayal of your character.” • Character is formed out of habits; • Habits are the consequence of actions; • Actions are born out of thoughts; • Thoughts are originated by desires; • Desires are inseparably associated with one’s character traits. It is thus clear that a mean, envious and selfish person craves one thing, and a kind person something completely different. Therefore, it is really important to realize your own value. Thus, immediately after we have realized and written down exactly what we want to attain, we must understand what inner values are at the basis of our wish to do so. In other words, we must understand our own ideals and values while at the same time verifying if we live according to them. I would also like to emphasize one important philosophical issue, without understanding of which our life can become miserable and have self-destructive tendencies, even if we have described our life’s goal in the most beautiful words.

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1.5. Any Great Deed is always Connected with the Death of the Ego It is unwise to name progress as a goal in life, because progress is never-ending. A goal may consist only in a transformation of something, but not in the continuation or the improvement of something that already exists. For example, a doctor involved in science, must, first of all, think of the means he may cure people of diseases, but not about how to classify the existing illnesses, or search for new medicines that bring only temporary relief. A doctor who is concentrated on his thesis, or focuses merely on the outer symptoms of diseases, without giving any deep thought to what is at the core of all the illnesses, and without understanding the laws of Creation and, therefore, the reasons for the existence of deceases, will do very little good to his patients or to medicine. The plain statistic data speak for themselves: lots of money is spent on public health service, but the number of diseases, sick and suffering people is increasing. The main accomplishment of modern medicine is the development of surgery and the defeat of many infectious diseases. However, it often happens that surgical intervention is no longer all that necessary, and may even cause patient’s health to fail. (There is a dark humor joke that comes to mind in this respect: the operation was a success, except that the patient died). Almost all antibiotics have strong side effects (from the same line of jokes: the temperature has returned to normal, but the liver has now failed). Some viruses have become immune to antibiotics. Factual analysis shows that infectious diseases have been taken under control not so much thanks to medical intervention, but more because of economic development, which improved people’s life conditions and personal hygiene levels.

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According to world statistics and data from the World Health Organization, 10% of a person’s health depends on medicine, 15% on heredity, and the rest depends on the person himself. However, until the modern luminaries of medicine acknowledge that the main cause for diseases is a patient’s character and attitude, that disease prevention is of vital importance too, and that a physician’s personality traits are as essential as his professional proficiency, we will never be able to bring modern medicine up to a new level. A selfish, envious, greedy and easily angered person can hardly be called free, no matter what country he lives in. He is just a puppet, a slave of baser energies, and no other, more comfortable conditions can be his goal. The more progress such a type achieves in economy, education, culture, religion etc., the more destruction and misfortunes he will bring about in his own life and the lives of people around him. The more glory and power he receives, the more suffering this world will encounter. The goal of such a person must be freedom, which is a totally different state, and is reached through hard work on one’s character traits. Fundamentally freedom is possible only if one’s goal is the unity of the soul with all existence. This is a genuine change to a new qualitative level of reality. As long as our temporary Self strives towards eternal life, we will be constantly undergoing failure like a cancerous cell. A cancerous cell is different from other cells by means of its overly inflated EGO.

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1.6. See Clearly and Walk Confidently Imagination is a trailer of life’s future events. Albert Einstein A man’s great power is the imagination of ego. It is dangerous when thinking of the unconquerable and causing fear. It is beneficial by creating an endless bright street of eternal life for humankind, a street that has no dead end or disintegration. We live on our imagination, but we also die because of it. Vladimir, Archbishop of Tashkent and Central Asia

We must now understand how we are going to reach our established goal and from time to time take stock of what we are doing toward this end. That is, if we don’t want to be like a ship wandering aimlessly around the ocean and constantly changing its course, we must thoroughly think over our life’s mission, certainly write it down, understand how we plan to accomplish it, and check once a week how we are abiding by our plan and whether we are doing everything possible to achieve it. It is also very important to have a well formulated and written life’s mission, and also well formulated goals of other spheres of our activity. Many people may say that their goals are in their head, and they can always recall and formulate them; so why is there a need to write them down too? However, this will not work. Scientists affirm that in the course of 24 hours, over 50,000 thoughts flash through our mind, and when we write down our goals, we sort out a few important ones from among dozens of thousands of other secondary ones. It is as if we are erecting a big lighthouse that our mind can strive to, it helps it to concentrate and stops its aimless wandering, turn-

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ing it into a manageable high-speed train. Furthermore, having received clear direction, our subconsciousness begins to actively help us. It is also important to ask ourselves such questions as: - How am I going to achieve this? - What am I doing to make my dream come true? Once in the U.S., after I had finished a lecture, a woman came up to me. She had left the USSR many years before. She told me that after finishing school she had written a note indicating her 5 wishes. Before long she had forgotten all about it. Fifteen years later, while she was visiting her relatives in Ukraine, she found the old piece of paper amongst her belongings. She was really surprised to find out that all her wishes had come true... I know many such stories. My experience shows that if a person can clearly see the picture, the final goal that which he is trying to reach; then the result is much better. This may be either a picture created in our mind, or a photo on our desk if our aim is a certain material object. Therefore, in Buddhism, for example, powerful and controlled imagination is considered to be the main condition for succeeding in any sphere, and the main requirement for achieving any goal.

1.7. A Harmonious Individual has Goals on all Levels It is important to have goals on the physical, intellectual, social and spiritual levels. The examples of such goals on the physical level are the following: attaining physical health, cleansing of waste from the organism, increasing body flexibility, recovery from a certain ill-

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ness, maintaining good appearance, slowing the aging process, etc. For the intellectual level the goals may be: development of creative ability, increase of willpower, obtaining an academic degree, reading certain books, studying new material, learning foreign languages, etc. This level is notably higher than the first one, as is apparent even from a practical point of view. Those who are involved in a creative activity are more successful and happier; moreover, they are physically healthier and grow old much slower. All this makes sense, given that it has been proven that practically all illnesses are psychosomatic in nature. However, by a higher standard, all the goals of these two levels cannot be the final goal of our life, since these desires originate from the false ego, from the concept that “I am this body,” and everything that comes from the false ego leads to personal degradation, destruction and a life filled with fear, greed and envy. From the standpoint of Eastern philosophy, the objective of establishing a correct goal must exist on the intellectual level, and if there is no such goal, the objective is to create such a goal. A wise man is distinguishable from others precisely by this advantage of having a clear goal, and understanding of what he is living for and where he is headed. A life’s goal can only be placed on a spiritual level, however, there are many dangers hidden here too. In modern culture spiritual values are understood as: observation of the commandments proscribed by one’s religion, perusal of spiritual literature, or even attending the theatre and exhibitions. Though much of this is important for our spiritual development, none of it can be the goal for our soul, only its means of achieving the goal. Furthermore, all of this rightly belongs to the previous level. What can interest an infinite soul, filled with eternity, knowledge

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and bliss, the particle of Absolute in this world? The answer is: nothing. The only thing it needs is unconditional love. It is said that our soul cannot live without love, just like our body cannot survive without breathing. We come into this world only to cleanse our consciousness and learn to accumulate love. Any other ultimate life goal, however beautiful it may sound, can lead us to soul deterioration, and, thus, also to the weakening of the subtle body (which consists of the mind and intellect), resulting in deterioration of the physical body. Love is the highest spiritual energy, being the basis of all other energies, and the only energy that gives bliss and the highest harmony. The less love a man possesses, the less harmonious, happy and healthy he is. Apart from love, any other goal is unnatural and destructive. And once an individual deteriorates on the spiritual level, then in course of time the other levels fall into decay too. Are you ready to barter love for worldly riches? It is true that a spiritual goal does imply self-discovery and social self-realization to some extent. But, unfortunately, in our society it is more usual to be engaged in the activity that brings more money and is more impressive, rather than in the activity that agrees with our psychological nature and talents. Still less people think about whether they are bringing benefit to this world through their activity. It is very important to study and become skilled at what we like and what agrees with our nature, even if it is for only a few hours a week. At the same time, the most important thing is to concentrate on unselfish assistance to other people.

1.8. A Path is Comprised of Many Steps Now it is necessary to split life’s main goal into intermediate levels and goals. First of all, we must write down our goal, our

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mission. We must clearly understand what we want to reach at the end of the road. We must imagine ourselves after the course of, let us say, five years, and we must compile a plan for these five years, the next year, or the next week, based on our mission. With this in mind, we must define the roles we will play in this incarnation, and know what we want to achieve in each of the roles. For example: I am a son, father, husband, manager of some enterprise, member of some religious organization, etc. In each role it is preferable to have heroes, to whom we would like to be similar. Furthermore, if we want to get a house or a car, we must have a clear image in our mind, or even have a picture. One of Los Angeles’s successful businessmen, who has taken many expensive management courses, told me that he had been taught one of the most important rules on how to determine how successful a person would be and whether he was prepared for leadership. The rule is very simple: you just have to ask him how he sees himself in five years and what he wants to achieve. Usually unsuccessful people can’t answer this question. In the best case they may answer that it all depends on circumstances. We should imagine what we would like people to say about us at our funeral, in each role – as a father, as a specialist, etc., and strive for this. It is very important to put our mission and plans in writing, and we should periodically return to check if we are going according to our chosen path. The very feeling that we are following our path, that our life is not meaningless, causes a sensation of happiness and psychological stability. Working according to a written mission precipitates its becoming consolidated in our subconscious, and it is precisely subconscious agenda that determine the course of our life.

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1.9. There is no Person, just Ideas and Ambitions; If there are no Ambitions, there is no Person, no Complete Personality Based on the above, let us sum up our humble attempt to consider the question of what the first step on our Path should be. First of all, sit up and sincerely answer the following questions: -What do I really want to attain in this life? -Who am I? -What is the meaning of my life? After having determined one’s values and ideals, a person can then make up a plan of his future life. If we do not do it, other people or circumstances will do it for us. If a man does not keep the meaning of life in mind, he is dead, even if he leads an active life. Such people can be described thus: dead at 20, buried at 75... It is important to remember that it is the goals that determine our level. The famous Rabbi Kook said: “A man is defined by his thoughts.” A great Hindu saint, Bhaktivinoda Thakur, writes: “A man is assessed by his goals: the higher the goal, the higher the man’s level. The highest level is to have the goal of achieving love for God.” In the Oriental world it has long been said: “There is no man but ideas and aspirations.” Consequently, if there are no aspirations, there is no man and no complete personality. Thus, one need not be surprised that in our society, where over 97% of people cannot intelligently formulate their goals, it is so rare to find a person who has succeeded in becoming truly happy.

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The great Admiral Byrd wrote: “Without goals, our days would end the way only meaningless days can end – in complete ruin.” So don’t be afraid to dream and set up goals. Remember that we can attain only what we truly want to attain. It is impossible to attain anything to which our subconscious is not attuned. It is important to cast aside all fears and doubts. One of the fundamental laws of Creation can be summarized as follows: “If you have a wish or a dream, it means you have the ability to make it come true.” Another yet no less important law is: “Everything first happens in our mind, and only then appears on the physical level. Without passing over the first level, it is impossible to accomplish anything in this world. Therefore, it is greatly important to give free rein to our imagination.” “At this moment we are what we have previously desired, and our future is determined by our present desires,” – stated the enlightened Buddha. It is also important to remember that we are interconnected and depend upon others’ desires.

1.10. The Last Word Always Belongs to... God Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. St. Matthew 7.7-8

It is the middle of May, 2007. It is surprisingly hot in Israel. After finishing my writing, I start for a swimming pool. Swimming helps me get away from the rest of the world, and new ideas come

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to my mind as I cover my standard two kilometers. This time I am recalling the people I met on my way to the pool. The first encounter was with an Arabic street vendor at a traffic light who had been aggressively trying to sell me some razors. The second one was with a Russian-speaking security guard at the pool, who was indignant at the constantly changing climate. “In all my 17 years in Israel I haven’t seen such weather: first its hot, then it’s raining, and all this is happening in May!” It was very easy to observe the main emotions behind this statement: stress and irritation. These are common emotions for people who are obsessed with results and react sensitively to even the slightest unexpected changes. In many cases such people start suffering from health problems very early and are not successful in social life. Through many examples, I have long been convinced how evidently the principal laws of Eastern psychology operate. - We can attain only that to which we are not overly attached. - The sensation of uplift brings about happiness, health and success in life. The sensation of uplift can only be experienced if we do not let ourselves become dependent upon anything or anyone in this world. Dependence produces stress and anger, which make our life difficult, and our intuition closes its doors for us. It is practically impossible to strike a target with a shaking hand... Dependence is caused by our desire to receive more than we give, by our consideration that some object in this world can make us eternally happy, by egoism and the fear of losing. Therefore, it is important to: - Clearly set up our goals, which must be directed toward the benefit of all living beings. - Dedicate our profit to God. It is important not to become overly attached to the fruits of our labor. If your aspiration

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is directed toward serving this world and this process itself is more important to you than the goal, your life turns out to be a constant feast. This way we come to understanding that our life is a captivating game, and that we are its Co-Creators. The first thing to begin with, after expressing our desires inwardly or on paper, is to get used to finishing the process off with one of the following phrases: “Everything is in accordance with God’s love.” “I rely upon God’s Will in everything.” “Let Your Will be done, not mine, as You know better what I need.” This brings out real resignation to one’s fate, a wonderful quality which is the base for perfection.

1.11. Facts to Ponder 1. September 1st, 2007. I am conducting seminars and consultations in Chicago. For the third day in a row I have now been growing dissatisfied, as I’ve had no time to do a number of small things: to answer urgent mail, finish a book... I know the reason for this is that I have no plan for the day. As always, the main argument is that I have no time to plan; however, I can always find an extra half-hour to chat with my friends after dinner, or an extra 20 minutes to lie around in bed after waking up. I know that similar things happen to many other people. This does not only concern one day’s planning, but also planning of a week, a year, and life as a whole; we have no time and “it is clear what needs to be done anyway.” By continuing in this way, we are similar to a driver who is in a hurry trying not to be late for

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a meeting, but has no time to stop to study the map, arrange his route, or call to clarify the details of the route. 2. Buddhist masters maintain that the most important human ability necessary for spiritual and material progress is the power of imagination and the ability to see a detailed image of one’s desired future. 3. If we sum up the experiences of modern masters who publish books on how to succeed in this life (Stephen Covey, Napoleon Hill, Robin Sharma, and many others), we will readily discover that all of them advise, first of all, to put together a plan, create a passionate desire for something, write down one’s goals and imagine the final result clearly. It is also desirable to learn how to plan one’s life and not to be afraid to dream. They confirm that it is impossible to reach anything without this.

SCIENTISTS DISCOVER THAT AN AIMLESS LIFE KILLS From 1994 to 2004, a group of scientists from the Medical Department of Tohoku University in Japan, headed by Professor Itiro Tsudzi, observed 43,000 physically healthy men and women between the ages of 40 and 79. In the course of periodic questioning, 59% of the examined people declared that they had a clear goal and led a satisfying life, while 5% acknowledged that they had no goal in life, and the rest found it difficult to answer this question. Within seven years, over 3,000 of those examined had died of illness or committed suicide. In spite of the different death factors, the overall picture proved very conclusive: the death rate among those who had no clear goal in life and avoided strenuous activities was approximately 1.5 times higher.

Step Two Ability to Live by the Soul’s Desires Means to be Healthy, Happy and Successful 2.1. To be able to Hear One’s Heart, One must Stop Being a Slave of Baser Instincts If you have not found anything worth dying for, then you do not know how to live. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

“You write a lot about the importance of having aspirations, and that this will make us happy. But I have a plethora of desires, yet I continuously remain unhappy, as many of my goals do not come to fruition. Even when some of them do materialize, I only become happy for a mere while.” First of all, it is very important to distinguish between desires that originate from our true self and ones that are merely fabricated. Our mind will willingly accept everything that involves our own pleasure, and recoil from anything disagreeable to us. For example, as soon as you enter a room and see a cake, the senses of smell and sight seize upon it, sending a message to your mind: “This cake is freshly baked and delicious!” The mind’s reaction is instantly clear: “Go and enjoy it! Take as much as possible!” It does not care that it might possibly be unhealthy, or that there may be something else that should have priority at this moment, etc. The same applies to anything that affects our mind, which our senses consider to be pleasant for our body and sensations. Such 35

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things as a beautiful house, a new car, meals, drinks, and fashionable clothes are accepted without any doubt. This is the level on which small children and animals operate, but the problem arises when a grown man also functions at the same level. Just as it is not possible to quench a fire by throwing more wood onto it, it is also impossible to satisfy one’s desires by continuously giving in to their fancies. On the contrary, if we turn into slaves to our own senses, we become more and more degraded, spiritually at first and ultimately also on an intellectual and physical level. This can easily be seen in our modern culture, where, although material welfare and bodily comfort are constantly growing, the numbers of happy people are significantly declining. Our life keeps becoming more complicated, and the way of thinking more primitive, although the desired situation is vice versa – an uncomplicated life, yet an elevated way of thinking. Nevertheless, we keep participating in the “greyhound race,” trying to earn more and more money, in order to fulfill more and more whims of a crazy mind. How can there be a place for lofty reflections, when we can just about hope to be able to crawl for the TV remote every evening? We have long outrun the pigs by the quantity of bad food we consume, while the level of marital infidelities and vice has almost reached that of notorious Sodom and Gomorrah. Can you remember when and where you have recently seen a person truly shining with happiness? It’s hard to recall immediately. What will probably come to your memory will be the faces of people who have just experienced animal pleasure, or just stuffed their stomachs with food, been to the bathroom, been notified of a salary increase, etc. But if you meet these same people shortly afterward, you will not see this joy any more. All this indicates how this world is full of worries, problems and plain suffering for our body, mind and the false ego.

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Some American psychologists conducted a fascinating scientific experiment over 15 years ago. The participants of the experiment were middle-class prosperous Americans, who were given something similar to a chess timer and were asked to press a button to calculate the time when they felt happy and content. The experiment was held over a number of days and many participants took part in it. The results showed that people experienced happiness only for a few minutes a day, notwithstanding the fact that America is one of the most advanced nations in the world when coming to achieving physical comfort.

2.2. Striving for Happiness Deprives You of Happiness If you imagine that the purpose of life is only happiness, then life becomes a cruel and meaningless thing. You need to understand what human intellect, your intelligence and your heart tell you – that the purpose of life is to serve the Force that brought you into this world. And then life will turn into joy. Leo Tolstoy

A great scientist, Professor Viktor Frankl, wrote: “The driving force behind modern civilization is the pursuit of pleasure, but the principle of pleasure destroys itself in the end. The more one strives for pleasure, the more distant he/she becomes from the goal of achieving happiness. This destructive urge to gain pleasure is the root of many sexual neuroses (indeed, many men consult psychotherapists for this reason).” Pleasure cannot normally be a goal in itself. It is and should remain a side effect only. It is the process by which one attains a goal that creates a reason for happiness.

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If there is a reason for happiness, the feeling of happiness will appear automatically. If one is depressed, it means he or she has no goal to reach. There is no need to strive for happiness, or to concern oneself about it, if the foundation for it exists. Furthermore, one should not become fixated on happiness, since the moment happiness becomes the object of our endeavors, it inevitably becomes the center of our rapt attention and ultimately slips away. Thus, it is very important to distinguish between loyalty to a true goal, on the one hand, and an excessive desire combined with excessive attention (to children, health, money, etc.), on the other. The former allows a person to achieve harmony during the process itself, and brings on happiness automatically, whereas the latter creates neurotic behavior. A man is driven not by happiness and pleasure as such, but by what generates them: God and God’s Love. So, true purpose is God and Love. When we live and request something for others, we are given everything. When we live and request only for ourselves, everything, starting with happiness, is taken from us. 1. Freud’s pleasure principle is the motivating drive of a small child. 2. His talented student Alfred Adler made further progress. He saw the driving principle of a mature personality as being the achievements in a social sphere – to be more precise, in the possession of authority and power. This is a level of a teenager. This desire to attain power appears due to the need to make space in which a person can feel safe and secure. This in turn comes from the fear of death, which, in Adler’s

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opinion, is a more forceful impulse than the desire to receive pleasure. 3. But Viktor Frankl got to the heart of the matter. Striving for meaning in life is the leading principle of a mature personality. And only at this level one can be content, healthy and truly successful. The first two principles are self-destructive by nature, as they relate to the mind and ego.

2.3. Our Desires are the Cause of our Sufferings I don’t know your destiny, but one thing I definitely know: only those of you who will look for and find a possibility to serve others, will be truly content. Albert Schweitzer

False ego is a process of identifying yourself with what you are really not – in the first instance, with a body. An undisciplined mind and an inflated ego are our chief enemies that turn our lives into hell. The main feeling of the false ego is fear, and its main desire is to use, to receive: recognition, glory, status, money, physical comfort. According to Eastern psychology, there are five barriers on the way to true bliss: - Ignorance, which means identifying oneself with one’s body, living by its interests, while forgetting about one’s true self – the soul. - Self-satisfaction or pride, which is considered a primary sin in virtually all religions. - A craving for worldly pleasures.

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- Insatiable striving for wealth. - Hatred and anger when desires are not fulfilled. Moreover, Eastern psychology says that our desires are the reason for our future sufferings. I’m not saying one must completely renounce all desires. We live in this world and it is normal to desire something and have a certain level of comfort. It is unlikely that someone from Western civilization will be able to live a full-fledged life somewhere in the countryside of Bangladesh. Strict asceticism is not recommended, especially for women. And this is not the main point at all. It is normal to try to satisfy one’s main, “basic”, needs. The most important thing is not to live by desires and instincts of one’s false ego and mind. They are destructive by nature, as at their origin lies a strong desire to acquire, to possess and to exploit. And this indicates a cancerous cell behavior. The foremost desire of our true self is to live by God’s love, with selfless devotion. The deepest need of a human heart is a need to live for something more significant than just following the selfish impulses of one’s mind. Besides, there is one other very important desire – to live according to one’s destiny or, in other words, to live in consistency with our higher calling. To follow the path that is prepared for us by God here on earth. Whenever we do something and our heart sings for joy, this means we are following our path. Unfortunately, not everybody has the required courage to follow his or her path towards one’s dreams. We are afraid to fail, or to cause pain and suffering to our relatives and friends. Since childhood we have been told that the object of our dream is out of reach, until we

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become convinced of it. When we first begin to move aside from our personal path, we feel a sharp pain in our soul, but with time this pain becomes dulled, until eventually we may even stop feeling it at all. That is why, when I wrote about goals and desires, I meant that they must come from our soul and become realized through the aid of wisdom and common sense. They must also clean up our consciousness and be generous by nature, have the ability to give something away for the sake of others. I am opposed to encouraging you to follow the caprices of your mind. In this world there are lots of others who will do so. Just open any newspaper, watch TV, drive along any city street, and a sea of advertisement will engulf you. Buy this, purchase that, forget about everything and delight your senses, become a slave to your mind, betray your true self. But by employing even a little sense one can notice that nobody has become contented or relaxed by following slogans of modern advertising, or those modern thinkers who, being slaves to their baser desires, lead society or individuals into disaster. And also, you will see that the more a person follows the caprices of one’s mind, the less contented one becomes in all spheres of life. For happiness, health and success can only be reached through concentration and tranquility of mind. Only people who usefully strive towards reaching their goals can reach a happy and harmonious life. But in doing so you shouldn’t sacrifice your peace of mind. For example, imagine that you are going to a very important rendezvous with your loved one in another city. You’ve been waiting for this meeting with great joy for a long time. On your way you constantly see an eye-catching advertisement: visit this amusement place, or visit that restaurant with amazing and very cheap dishes. You forget about everything and decide to visit

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them. As a result, you miss your engagement and your life changes for the worse. Or another example – you have a free day with no plans. You get up whenever you get tired of lying in bed in the morning. You watch TV, gossip on the phone, eat whatever catches your eye. It seems you have just opened your eyes in the morning, but it is already late evening. One more unproductively spent day, one more life….. The time spent uselessly passes by very quickly. But if you plan such a day and stick to the plan, ignoring your mind’s fancies, the day can pass in a very productive, full and interesting way. You will have enough time to work on both your intellectual and physical qualities, spend time with your children and help your relatives and friends. I trust this example will be understood very simply and logically.

2.4. Practical Recommendations. Basic Methods of Goal Achievement If you want the Truth as badly as a drowning man wants a gulp of air, you will reach it in a flash. Upanishad

One should develop the desire to reach a goal. In other words, one must have a passionate desire for something, and this brings inspiration. Without this first step, we will be unable to reach anything. Remember that the Universe responds to all our wishes. One of my teachers would say: “You need to wish for love toward God. If you don’t have such a desire, you need to wish this desire to appear. If you don’t have this desire either, you need to wish that you have the desire to wish, to wish for a desire to attain love for God.”

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It is important to define a concrete goal and to write it down, to clearly see the result, to be able to give up any goals of lesser importance, and desires that are unrelated to the main goal. It is good to have an example to follow, somebody who has already reached a high level. Read about his or her experience; try to meet in person or through his or her books, articles, presentations or lectures. If we think about someone, or, as it is said in the East, if we meditate on someone, we become akin to that individual. This is why it is highly recommended to always reflect on God, saints or about highly spiritual individuals. If we want to become successful in any sphere of life, to improve some traits of our character, then we need to follow the example of someone who has already achieved the highest level in the area we wish to develop. We need to do and to study things that bring us closer to our goal, at least for one hour a day. For example, if we want to be in good physical shape, then every day we need to do something for it: read special literature on the subject, do physical exercises, get rid of bad habits, etc. Regularly ask yourself unexpected questions, and answer at least one of them every day. This immediately moves us from the platform of mind, half-sleeping reveries to the level of wisdom. “What do I want to reach?” (in life, during the next 5 years, in the coming year, on this trip, etc.) “How do I want to reach it?” “What do I do to reach it?”

2.5. Rely upon the Higher Power But at the same time it is important to understand that the ability to set precise goals and to be determined to achieve them must

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be combined with the ability to live in harmony with the Universe, to accept what comes naturally, to trust the flow of life. Selfish people are quite often very target-oriented. Some of them may even have good intentions – to make the whole world better, to stop wars. We know that ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions.’ But the Universe is perfect. In natural reserves, places where modern man does not stick his nose, everything runs smoothly on its own. Can you remember a time when the sun didn’t rise above the horizon? Have you ever seen an animal that has not been able to create a family, or insects that have starved to death? But because people do not want to accept that they are part of Nature and they have but a small position in the world, they run into so many different problems. Modern people want to manage Nature, but instead of this they become more and more dependent on it. We are but a small part of a unified whole. And the mystery of life is that we need to act as a means to express the will of the Divine Authority. Every one of us has a destiny defined by creation. We need to understand it, and bring it to realization through our behavior and actions. We will discuss this in detail in the next chapter.

2.6. Do not put Anyone on a Pedestal Only extremely resilient individuals can say they live by their own desires. Most people play the roles and live by the ideas thrust upon them by society, friends, mass media, advertising. Quite often they do not even suspect it.

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“In your articles I quite often get not only advice but energetic support, confirmation of my inner feelings and my understanding of the world, life, God. Some time ago you published an interview with a famous celebrity, which really surprised me. I did not detect any energy in the replies she gave. She says all the right things with the right words, but I feel the urge to counter: “I don’t believe you!” It seems that the energy of words depends on how strongly a person believes in what he or she says or writes. The words of this actress seem like a pioneers’ chant, as if they have been learned by heart and are just repeated from one interview to another. I did not agree with her phrase: “Happiness is the joy we get out of life.” In my opinion, happiness is a joy we give to those close to us and those around us, regardless of what we have ourselves received from life. I value a person who has the ability to love regardless of circumstances, a person who can be happy not only in joy and prosperity, a person who is self-sufficient, and for whom a lack of a successful career or a happy family life will not be a barrier on the way to unconditional love. An awareness of God inside oneself, feeling His help at every moment, His support and love, generosity and justice – all this, I believe, is real happiness.” In regards to the interview with A., in general you are right. The modern stars cannot allow themselves to say what they think. Most of them have ready clichés for each interview that were thought up by their PR managers. They can seldom allow themselves to be what they really are, even to their nearest and dearest. At a consultation it is very difficult to find the way to their hearts, through the many masks and roles they play even in everyday life. I also noticed that they are often very unhappy and completely confused people deep inside themselves. It is a pity that they are role models for many people.

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Art has a most significant influence on the subconscious. It has the potential to influence huge masses of people. Its original aim was to bring people closer to the Divine, to fill their hearts with love, to develop spiritual growth. In contrast, the main goal of modern art is to accumulate the maximum profit and not to express a spiritual ascent. That is why it does not influence the higher centers of energy, but the lowest ones, primarily igniting sexual desire in any way possible. This may allow a state of euphoria for a short while, but causes great damage to the soul, intellect and physical body. One rarely finds a show business personality who is sincerely seeking spiritual life, has a deep inner strength and wishes to make a spiritual breakthrough in the art. You are also correct in your understanding of the word joy. The Russian translation of the word joy (radost), from the ancient Slavic, connotes to give or to gift Ra. Ra means the Sun. In other words, to give light to one’s surrounding, but not to take.

2.7. One becomes the Object of One’s Thoughts “I have accustomed myself to get to other people’s shoes, which helps me understand them better. But very often I have headaches afterwards and feel a lack of energy. What would you recommend?” It is true that we should always put ourselves in other people’s shoes to better understand them. This alone should be sufficient to not take offence at them. And without it, how will we realize the main principle of all religions: “Treat others the way you would want to be treated?”

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On the other hand, it may be dangerous to warm to the image of another person. I’ll try to explain. When you think about somebody with love or hatred, you pick up his or her qualities, since on a spiritual plane a very intense exchange of energies takes place, and you basically insert a subtle image of this person, his or her phantom, into your own mind. If this is done consciously, you simply merge a spiritual image of this person with your own, and, of course, this will influence your way of thinking and your character, as you capture a piece of this person’s essence. But, unfortunately, these individuals are not always saints. TV spreads mostly contain a damaging energy, and not all the individuals shown there are worth copying. In general, my opinion about TV is that if you want to live a productive, happy and healthy life, you need to significantly reduce watching TV or give it up completely. This opinion, by the way, is also proved by the results of many scientific researches. In Eastern philosophy and psychology, the highest level of perfection is considered to be when we always have an awareness of God and never forget Him, and meditate about saints and righteous people. Once an individual begins thinking about God and the saints, the atmosphere becomes illuminated, the mind grows calm and the body organs work in perfect harmony. There are lots of examples when an actor, after shooting the role of a virtuous person, experienced a significant change in disposition, became more spiritual, kinder, and gave up bad habits; and vice versa. So if you have an affinity for, or even spend a lot of time thinking about, someone with a low moral compass, selfish, who is on a low spiritual level, then the degradation of your conscience, leading to illnesses and suffering, will eventually follow. Nowadays,

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everybody is used to discussing and making icons out of famous artists, sportspeople, politicians, but not all of these people have a divine nature. Interestingly, even if you think a lot about someone who has brought you misfortune or offended you, you become similar to this person and take on his or her qualities, until after a while you start behaving alike. We experience the most particular and intense exchange of energies with those people for whom we feel affection, whom we elect as idols for ourselves, or whom we hate. That is why the commandment: “Do not create any idol for yourself” is so important. All the spiritual schools coming from God do not recommend idolizing anyone or anything in the world.

Step Three Every Life is a Unique Mission 3.1. Life is a Vocation, and it is very Important to Find It Imagination alone is not enough; it must be combined with an ability to take risks. There is no use in staring at a ladder; we must climb it. Vaclav Havel

I remember that many years ago I conducted a consultation for a woman who had come with multiple questions. She was fed up with problems with money, health, and her personal life. But I could not see any sign of this from her birth chart. I asked her where she worked. She answered that she was a Chief Accounting Officer. I was shocked. “But this does not suit you at all. You’re a born teacher.” She burst into tears like a little girl, saying she had always been fond of children, and had wanted to enter a teacher’s training college, but her father had dissuaded her from even thinking about it, with the words: “One day you’ll be very thankful to me for this.” Instead he sent her to study economy in a business institute. She was crying out, saying that her work was drudgery, but she was forced to do it, as it allowed her to maintain a high social level and pay off her loans. We talked for quite a long time. I explained to her that money comes based on your karma, and that she had chosen a dead end way, where she would not even be able to receive all the good she had accumulated during her previous lives, and no matter what

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spiritual practices she would undertake, she would not experience great progress. The discussion had a great influence on her. Within a week she had quit her job and started working with young people as a parttime volunteer and began studying psychology. A few weeks later she called and warmly thanked me, saying she was as happy as never before. Her problems with money and health had somehow disappeared. Her family had initially been against her decision, but once they had begun to notice the changes in her, they completely supported her. Of course, not all people can so radically change their life, nor does everybody need to do it. But what everyone does need is to consider whether they are in the right place, if their work makes them happy, and if it is truly ‘theirs’, if they want to be happy, healthy, and really successful. First, one must give serious thought to the question, and then, if needed, one can start to do something about it.

3.2. How to Find One’s Calling and Mission, and Live according to It It is a virtue for a man to live in accordance with his destiny. The rest of his life is nothing more than unimportant additions to it. Michel de Montaigne

This question is important for every person, as we can only experience happiness in a moment when we realize our true selves, our potential, and our talent through some kind of activity. This is a very important subject because if a person does not realize his true being socially, does not work in accordance with their nature, and does not do good for his surroundings, he cannot be happy

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and cannot successfully develop spiritually and physically. And, of course, the question of harmony cannot even be discussed. But, unfortunately, in modern society we do not have that many examples of people who live in harmony and work in accordance with their nature, as we have other values. As you know, our life depends on the values we follow. Our principles are what define our behavior and way of life. It is difficult to formulate the ideals of the modern culture, but in general, they sound something like this: “Earn as much money as possible by any means, satisfy your senses, reach a high position, become famous, as then you will be respected.” If this does not work out, one may join some religion and become its fanatic follower, or adopt a hippie way of life and give up everything. But with such an attitude it is impossible to realize oneself and, what is more, to fulfill one’s mission on earth. Every person has his or her own mission. One must be ready for one’s mission. First of all, you must get rid of fear, greed and ignorance, to have a tremendous desire to bring goodness to all living things, and to have a spirit of sacrifice and devotion. In general, we are always serving someone or something, as this is in the nature of our soul, and we cannot live without it. The question is only whom, how, and in what frame of mind we serve. We can serve our ego or our brain. But in the end, this will make neither us nor the people around us happy; as the soul can only be happy when it is in the service of God, and through this service, also to all living beings. Ayurveda says that we should not start any pursuit if it does not bring goodness to all living beings. See God in everything and everywhere. Serve everybody through seeing God in them. Sivananda Swami

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And then, even if a person is not involved in grandiose projects, their existence on earth itself improves the karma of the entire human race. So we are continuously brought back to the fact that we need to work on our character traits. This is hardly ever taught in the modern system of education, where the main focus is simply to cram as much information into the child’s head as possible, and then to send them off to wherever they will be able to earn lots of money and reach a high position. Very seldom is any attention paid to moral upbringing; the most important thing is to pass exams. But how can one work in accordance with one’s nature, if one is dependent on money deep inside? The simplest test that will show if one is in the right place is to ask a question: “If I had enough money and was provided for, would I still be doing what I do now? Does my work bring any blessing to others?” If the answer is “No,” it should cause serious consideration. There are three levels of a person’s progress at work: First, when they derive enjoyment from their work depending on the amount of money they earn. Second, when they enjoy their work due to the amount of recognition and appreciation they get. Third, when they take pleasure in the process of work itself. And only at this level we can talk about creativity, self-realization, and one’s personal mission. If you pay attention you will find that it has always been just such people who created major cultural masterpieces, inventions, and plain good-quality products that have brought goodness to humankind. Of course, not everyone can suddenly and instantly

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change their work; but it is possible to have a hobby that can later develop into a profession.

3.3. Issues for Self-analysis 1. If I were financially independent, would I continue doing what I do now? 2. Am I fond of what I do in my life? Do I feel that my soul sings in the process of my work? 3. Does my work in any way benefit the world? Does my work make anybody’s life better? 4. If I die tomorrow, will there be less light in the world? Or will the world sigh with relief: “One less idler who has lived only for himself, and maybe for his relatives?” 5. Was it our own choice to do this kind of work, or was it due to outside influence (relatives, friends, society in general)? 6. We are not born in our unique place, country, and family simply by accident. Our mission is usually connected with our nation and our family. Remember that you can bring about good for your nation, your family, and the entire world. What is the mission of my nation, my people? 7. How much creativity is there in my work? I would like to note that the last question is relevant not only to people with creative professions. We can be creative anywhere. I know people who have jobs cleaning, and at the same time they sing and put their hearts into their work. As a result, they are paid more than others. I know a certain nurse who wholeheartedly did her work, and her supervisor presented her with a new car. But all

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this does not affect the quality of their work; it is just a pleasant addition to their favorite occupation. On the other hand, there are others who are engaged in typically creative departments (artists, writers, designers), but they do their work only for money and fame. If their karma is good, they can be very successful, especially by toying with people’s baser energies, but they only destroy the spiritual lives of themselves and other people... They damage their karma for many years ahead, while in this life they try to escape the feeling of emptiness and depression by turning to alcohol, drugs and decadence.

3.4. Real Stories First Story In 1997, in India, I heard a story that had a great influence on me. A young man, the son of a shoemaker, was ashamed of his social position. He studied a lot. After he had successfully graduated from school, he went to London to study as a lawyer. He had to study a lot and work hard. As a result, he became rich and famous. One day he came to visit his parents, and entered his father’s workroom. He got the urge to do a little work there to help his dad, as he had done in his childhood. He sat down, and started nailing shoe soles and repairing holes. He did it for one day and then another. His holiday ended, but he still continued working. In the end he never returned to London. He said that it was only in his father’s workroom that he felt truly happy, doing what he was meant to do.

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Second Story My father is the best example for me. After he graduated from school, he decided to become a physical education teacher. In the army this wish intensified and after his service was over, he entered a teacher’s institute. None of his relatives supported him, but he did not concern himself about it. While his elder brothers and sister were busy defending their theses, he was engaged in his favorite work. Many times he was offered a post of deputy director, director of the school, and other administrative positions in the town, but he always refused them, saying that he simply wanted to be a teacher. He engaged himself in his favorite work with all his heart. Schoolchildren seldom missed his physical education classes. There were many sports divisions in the school, and it won practically all competitions, right up to the state level (the former Soviet Union). He himself invented various unconventional apparatuses for sports practice, and wrote many works on the system. The school was always receiving teachers from other parts of the country, who would come to study his experience. He was invited to teach in advanced teacher training courses. There were hundreds of cups, diplomas, and other awards in his school office. He was rewarded personally two times by the heads of state. He is an honored and popular teacher of both Russia and Uzbekistan. But this did not affect him too much. What he loved most was people, to see the transformations they underwent, and to help them. I remember how they didn’t know what to do with class 5-D. The most disorderly children, lagging behind in education, mostly from unhappy families, studied there. My father became their class head, and within a year the class had become so excellent that you needed good connections in order to get in! He went camping with them, helped them do their homework, taught them to help each other…. After two years the class was the best in the

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school. Almost all of the kids entered college, and some became famous athletes. There were lots of newspaper articles about this class and his other classes. It was a real miracle, as most of these children had been considered mentally retarded. I recently asked him how he started his work with this class. He said that only three out of 40 parents came to the first teacherparent meeting of the class. Then he prepared a concert, where all of the kids in the class participated: one sang, a second participated in an acrobatic pyramid, a third took part in a humorous play. Each parent received an invitation to the concert. Of course, they all came to look at their kids. The concert program was excellent, and many parents cried, as they hadn’t expected this from their children. In the end my father made a speech, and said that this had all been accomplished through only a little preparation; that their kids were very talented, imagine how much more they could do! “In order to help them discover their talents, I will need your help and cooperation. Are you ready?” Of course, everybody agreed, and since then, not a single parent ever missed a teacherparent meeting. What’s more interesting is that many of the parents themselves also changed.

Third Story When I was nearly finishing this book, we came to see some friends of my friends at a remote Lithuanian farm. The owner used to be a successful businessman. Actually, he had become a businessman only in order to fulfill his dream of becoming a farmer. Once he had earned enough money, he quit his successfully developing business, although his partners begged him to stay. He undertook a spiritual quest for many years, seriously studying Christianity, Eastern philosophy, and modern specialists, holding his own view on how to run his life. Now he is an owner of a large and constantly growing farm. He has a wonder-

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ful wife, and four children who look like angels, who don’t even know how to contradict their parents... There is very beautiful scenery around, and love and tranquility seem to fill every part of it. Of course, all this requires much hard work, but the whole family is occupied in it with pleasure. They have time for everything: for work, for rest, and for a spiritual life. He worked toward his dream with great care. During the time he was earning money, he was studying everything about farm organization, and was searching for a wonderful farm, while also ensuring there would be a good school nearby for his children.

3.5. What is a Psychophysical Nature? Be true to your nature. Shakespeare

“You write that we are born with a certain psychophysical nature, which is almost impossible to change in this life, nor is it necessary. On the contrary, one should act in conformity with it. Please tell us about it in more detail; which particular human qualities are related to their psychophysical nature, in other words, what we cannot and need not change?” Your question regarding human psychophysical nature is very profound. It is called “guna-karma” in Sanskrit. It is based on the programs of the subconscious mind that have been formed by thoughts and behaviors repeated many times during the span of many lives. And the subconscious makes up to 95% of our personality. And it is these subconscious problems that are responsible for the way and direction our life takes. They usually become defined over many lives.

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The level of our guna-karma, the state of our subconscious, depends to a significant extent on which interaction we have chosen to have in this life, and more so, in previous lives. Every person is born in consistency with their karma: in a particular place, in a particular family. And from the moment of their birth one can already tell what type of body and constitution they will have. For example, there are people who are born with a strong disposition, and it is easier for them to succeed in sports. Others may put in better effort, but come up with worse results. This is in regards to physical constitution. We can use this analogy in the emotional area too. As soon as a baby is born, it already has a character. We can observe this phenomenon with children. They often speak and behave in a way that causes their parents to say in amazement: “We didn’t have this in our family!” Nowadays there is a significant number of little children who ask such questions, when they are two or three years old, that we wonder where they have gotten them from, or how they could have understood such things at all. But the thing is, that our psychophysical nature is determined by our subconscious, which in turn depends on our way of thinking and behavior in our previous lives. It is very important that every person should choose an occupation corresponding with his or her nature. As Ayurveda teaches, if one does not follow one’s path, the karma gradually gets worsened, and this, first of all, influences one’s health and relationship with other people; and different problems begin arising in one’s life. But what is most important, one cannot attain satisfaction. And you can hardly find a person who is tranquil and happy, if they are not engaged in work they like, which corresponds with their nature.

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To be more precise, Ayurveda says that the further we get away from our Dharma, the way destined for us, the more diseases and suffering we have. Please note that diseases and problems begin arising not when we have an unhealthy diet, or we are angry at someone (although this is also important), but when we step aside from our way. In other words, we cannot be happy, healthy, and successful, if we are not occupied with our destined vocation. Generally speaking, Ayurveda states that health is a state of happiness. And if a person does not experience a constantly growing state of happiness, it means he is not following his path. The literal translation of the (Russian) word denoting ‘happiness and contentment’ means to be a part of the Unified Whole, a part of God (in Russian the word for happiness is ‘schastie’, where ‘chast’ means a part), to occupy one’s place in the Universe, for which we are destined. Every person has his or her own psychological foundation. One has a very well developed intuition; another has logic; a third one is a good communicator, while a fourth, conversely, may find it hard to build good communication with people, but takes to techniques like a duck to water. Psychophysical nature is partly reflected in these qualities. Additionally, every person has a talent. And we are happy when we are able to develop this talent and bring benefit to the world. I would like to emphasize: everyone has a unique mission, a vocation in this life. And an enormous problem exists due to many people not living in conformity with their mission, mainly, because they are driven by fear, greed and ignorance. These are the main enemies for someone on the way to success in life. It is generally accepted that a person cannot successfully grow spiritually, materially, and physically if they have not realized themselves socially in accordance with their nature.

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In order to reach a life goal, one needs to love work. To love work does not mean to be a workaholic, and to work from morning till night; it means to love what you do. And in order to reach this level, one particularly must learn how to be independent from money. Unfortunately, the main disposition of modern society is to earn as much as possible by any means. And the more one earns, the more prosperous and successful they are considered to be. And, of course, while this tendency exists, we cannot even discuss happiness, as dependency on money gives birth to fear and greed, which make it difficult to search for one’s destination and mission, and prevent one from being successful. And vice versa, we can be happy and completely satisfied in life, if we see that our work is causing advantage. As for you, it is kind of unusual when a person over 70 years old asks about their nature. Of course, it is better to ask such questions in one’s youth, when the search for the way of life is only just beginning. But you show by your example once again that a person’s age is determined by their mood, and it is never too late to start living in conformity with your destiny, and thus become really successful.

3.6. Understanding One’s own Calling Even the weakest among us has a gift from above, even if it seems insignificant at first sight. But this gift is unique, and if one applies it wisely, it will bring much glory to the human race. D. Raskin

“I would like to ask you regarding my life’s destiny. I don’t want to live solely for money and fame. After all, we do not come to this world for this. But I don’t know what occupation is better for me, what is my mission, and this makes me depressed. My wife

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doesn’t understand me. She thinks that if there is a good job with a stable salary, then there’s nothing else to wish for. What could you advise?” You ask very good questions. It is really very important to work in accordance with your nature. The thing is, we are an eternal soul, but when we are born into this world, we get both gross and subtle bodies, which are formed by the thoughts, desires, and behaviors that we have chosen during multiple reincarnations. And we are born with a particular psychophysical nature, which is almost impossible to change in this life, nor do you need to change it. You need simply to behave in conformity with it. Bhagavad-Gita, the most ancient sacred scripture in the world, which serves as a basis for practically all Eastern philosophical and psychological schools, examines this question: “How will constraining your nature benefit you?” And many arguments are brought to show that it brings nothing but unhappiness and worsening of your karma. Each person is unique and has his own talents and abilities. And every one of us living in this world should undergo activity; it is impossible to live in this world and not to accomplish any deeds through your mind, your speech, or your body. And every action we choose brings its own consequences, its karma. But that is another matter. The idea that you need to understand primarily is that all alive and non-alive things in this world (and based on Eastern psychology, everything around us is alive) have a certain nature and destiny. And if somebody lives and behaves while not in conformity with their nature, it brings suffering to them and to the people around. It is impossible to reach tranquility of mind, and consequently to progress spiritually and materially, except by realizing oneself socially. Also, it is important to understand that there is no such thing as ‘better or worse’ in this matter. For example, if you ask somebody what is better, a car or a truck, one who needs to get to the city center every day will choose one

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thing, whereas one who needs to transfer their heavy belongings to a nearby town will choose the other. Another thing which is important to understand is that we need to be aware of the importance of our work, and feel that due to this work we are causing benefit to people around us, and that we live in conformity with our mission. The more unselfishly we live, the happier we become. This may be obvious, but why do the majority of people in the Western world not work in conformity with their nature, and they neither realize their talents nor are even aware of them? “The main causes of this are such traits as fear, greed, ignorance, and jealousy. These bring about that one becomes a slave to money and possessions. Not only Eastern psychology teaches this, but more and more of our modern thinkers. For example, the world famous business psychology specialist, Robert T. Kiyosaki, in his very famous book “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” writes:”The main reasons of poverty or financial problems are fear and ignorance... Fear and greed may lead you into the biggest trap, if you do not understand how they manage your thoughts. It is not cruel what I have said. It is cruel to spend your life in fear not fulfilling a single dream. To work hard for money, thinking that it will allow you to buy things that will make you happy, is strange and scary. A life that is measured by a size of a salary is not a life. Those who imagine that work will bring them a sense of security only lie to themselves.” That is why, as a rule, Eastern psychology recommends first and foremost cleaning one’s consciousness and working on one’s character. As only a person who lacks such qualities as greed, jealousy, anger, avarice, ignorance, gossip, etc., can lead a full life, work as per their calling in joy and harmony, and bring true goodness to people around them.

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Taking the above into consideration, my advice will be to work on yourself. Also ask yourself, “If I did not have any financial problems, what kind of work would I choose?” As a rule, this will answer the question of what kind of work one should be occupied with. And if we start doing it without paying any attention to difficulties, then in time we will have money, success, and, what is the most important, satisfaction from life. At the beginning this favorite activity may be only a hobby, but with time, as you develop into a specialist in this hobby, you can accept it as main work. Do not be afraid of a reduction in salary. Money comes based on your karma (fate). If one works hard doing work they do not like, which is not their destiny and they earn more money than they are supposed to by their karma, then it will be taken away from them from other spheres of their life: health, family, etc. This is what I can briefly recommend you regarding understanding of your life’s destiny. As for you, I would recommend you to be engaged in such professions as a financial analyst, an auditor, a tax specialist. Israel is not good for your social realization. The best place for it is Russia.

3.7. Practical Recommendations 1. Sit up straight. Straighten your spine, draw your attention away from unrelated thoughts. Imagine that a golden ray of God’s love (or whatever bright color comes into your imagination) emanates from your heart. This flow goes deep into your every cell, then radiates out of you and spreads across the entire Universe. And approach God with a request to help you find the place which is meant for you in the Universe, where you will be in harmony and will best relate to the world. With this request you can and need to apply to God in your prayers.

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2. Please consider: did you ever know a person who was happy for a long time while they were occupied with work they hated? 3. If you do not have time to be engaged in your favorite work, you should carefully analyze why, and remove all obstacles with no regrets. 4. The quality of our life directly depends on the quality of our contribution to the lives of other living beings. Try to remember the names of five Nobel laureates, or any five most celebrated people of the twentieth century, or five Olympic champions. Most people cannot even answer one of these questions. Everyone, however, is able to name whoever has contributed to their life, who has offered help at a tough time. This is nature of this world. Famous people get forgotten, sometimes even the next day, but those who have given help from their heart, who serve the world unselfishly, always stay in our hearts. 5. In order to realize oneself in life, one needs not to pursue success, but to find the meaning of Existence. The best question we may ask ourselves is, “How and where can I help the world?” 6. Ask yourself, “In what sphere am I a specialist? How much time do I spend improving my professional skills?” If it is less than 40 minutes a day, then you need to give it a serious consideration. You can become an expert in your work only if you constantly improve your forte by reading, studying, attending special seminars and courses. The one who does not become a good specialist can hardly be socially successful even if they are engaged in their destined work.

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7. You need to completely get rid of such thinking and saying, “I have helped this person with something, so I have done good with these people.” Instead we should use such words, “I am grateful to God for giving me this opportunity to serve and help these people.” 8. You need a minimum of 1 hour per day to devote to your dream. For example, if you want to write a book – write it, if you want to become a dancer – practice dancing, etc. 9. Remember the following facts: - The majority of people die from diseases related to heart and blood vessels. - In accordance with American and Russian researches, based on the statistics of ambulance calls, the majority of heart attacks happen at 9 o’clock on Monday mornings, at the time when people need to go to work... - What unites all these sick people is the fact that they do not like their work, and their hearts shrink when they are going to work. Doctors were very surprised, as all of them had expected that the main cause would be an improper diet and an inactive way of life... - One more cause of heart attacks is dissatisfaction with one’s relationship with relatives and friends. But this is another topic. - According to a survey taken among student doctors in one of the American universities, it turned out that nobody had chosen this work in order to help people. The majority of answers were, “It is a family tradition”, “it is prestigious”, “it is a well-paid profession”...

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3.8. Food for Thought - The Universe does not always give us what we ask for, but always gives us what we have a need for. - There is a big difference, and sometimes a stark contradiction, between the expressions: “To make money” and “to make life.” - All life does not exist on its own, nor only for itself, but a man can still choose a destructive path, to live on his own and for himself... - We are created in the Creator’s image and likeness. When we create something or are engaged in creative work, we become like the Creator. - To live merely to achieve results means to bring a feeling of emptiness and to worsen one’s karma. - When we are engaged in our desired work in conformity with our nature and realizing our potential, harmony and happiness enter our lives, and results become of secondary importance. - Any action should be like an offering of goodwill, otherwise, it ties you down, desecrates you, and brings a lot of suffering. - When a person is engaged in their favorite work, putting all their efforts into it, they achieve deep satisfaction. - You can only bring good to others if you feel happy and satisfied. - The secret of misfortune is simple – when one is engaged in what one feels one ought to do, instead of what one really loves to do.

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- Our life is too short to be engaged in work that is not in conformity with our nature, and especially so if we are not fond of it. - A favorite occupation is not given to us in order to bring money immediately. It is destined to bring harmony and joy, and the money will ultimately follow. - If there is a goal, then there is a desire and energy to act. No goal means no desire and energy to act. - You will be only so happy and content in life as you will be useful to the world. - Work in itself cannot cause suffering. Misfortunes only come from undue attachment and identification with work. - Everything done out of pressure and in hope for a result cannot be a Dharma (mission, destiny). - Ayurveda, Eastern psychology and philosophy from the lips of enlightened sages, teaches that a person has four goals in life that they may strive for depending on their level: 1. Dharma (professional activity in line with one’s nature, talents and abilities) 2. Artha (material prosperity) 3. Kama (realization of desires, sensual pleasure) 4. Moksha (freedom, spiritual enlightenment) So, if one does not live in conformity with their Dharma (goal 1), the rest of the goals will remain out of reach.

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3.9. The Spiritual Approach The main joy in life is to devote yourself entirely to the goal that you consider great. To be in your element, and not a pitiful selfish mass of disease and sorrow, complaining that the world does not make it its business to make you happy. Bernard Shaw

Ayurveda and the entire Eastern psychology and philosophy, primarily based on Bhagavad-Gita, says that as long as we remain tied to the fruits of our labor and act with selfish intentions to reach material comfort, prestige, and to stick out, we remain slaves whose destiny is to suffer. The Cabbalists say that everything we do must be done in God’s name. And this is the biggest honor and bliss that a man can experience. A life lived for oneself does not bring happiness and satisfaction. But if you turn yourself into God’s instrument and make a choice in his favor, you will experience paradise on earth. Until we understand that a life is a special mission, we will drag out a dull existence consisting of a series of meaningless and unconnected events. If you do not know how your life’s events are connected with a certain exalted goal in the service of something greater, your life loses its meaning. This may be compared to, for example, if you listen to a radio while it makes lots of static and constantly gets interrupted. You listen and understand some separate words, but you cannot make sentences and paragraphs out of them. It is self-understood that you will not be able to compose a coherent story from what you have heard, nor even understand its main point. You will have just a set of words with no meaning. The same happens with life. One seems to be doing so many things, but when death comes, all these will turn out to be so unimportant, and nobody will ever

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find out what the person was trying to say during his life, including the person himself! One may have brought up children; but any animal also has children and it is not put to its merit...

3.9.1. Great is the One who Serves Who should one serve? If you dedicate your life to earning somebody’s praise, you will never become equal to that person. But if you dedicate your life to God, you will become a godlike man, as this brings understanding that life is a godly mission. Everyone has his or her own unique one. In this world, where people only pay attention to appearances, it is accepted that the role of a president is a much more important and significant one than that of a salesman. But from the point of view of the essence, if we serve God and in God’s name, then each and every one is important. We are accustomed to thinking that success in life means to reach a high position, respect from society, to earn lots of money. But what is really important is our motivation, the quality of our actions, and whether we put our soul into our activities. Generally speaking, success in life depends on what choice we make: whether to live only for ourselves and to be like a cancerous cell; or to understand that we are all a part of a Unified Whole, and we can be happy when we serve this Whole. We are parts of the Whole, and every one of us has their own mission. When we understand this, we get rid of envy and the habit of comparing ourselves with others. Once we discussed this topic with a friend of mine, a very spiritually advanced businessman. And he gave me a good example. Once he witnessed how his

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acquaintances of Jewish origin were discussing a certain rabbi. “How easily he receives his money, even though he doesn’t work in the traditional sense,” said one of them. So my friend asked them in reply, “Would anyone of you like to be in his place, to have ten children, to study the Torah for several hours a day, to follow his strict dietary laws and everyday life?” Nobody wanted. This is a very good exercise for the mind. When we get disturbed by envy and start thinking that somebody lives better, we need to ask ourselves if we would like to take their place, to have the same diseases, the same relatives, the same psychological problems. And, what is the most important, to pass along the same path. It happens very often that someone has to go through many hard lessons over many lives to be able to hold some respectful position, to become famous or very rich. And nobody knows what will happen in the future, as one who is given much will be asked much in return. And when a man occupies a high position, has broad opportunities, he will also have many more temptations. Moreover, when a person occupies a high position, and lives of many people depend on him, and instead of taking care of their spiritual and material lives, he begins to exploit and use them, this man deserves compassion, as he has become deprived, even in this life, of the feeling of happiness and zest for life. As for what will happen to him in his next lives, you will not wish it on anybody. Nature law is so arranged that every leader takes one-sixth part of karma of their subordinates. And if the leaders have served and taken care of them, then it is one-sixth of their good karma; if not, then they receive one sixth of their sins.

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3.9.2. Whoever was the First on Earth will be the Last in Heaven Christ said that the one who was the first on earth shall be the last in heaven. In the Talmud there is a story about a man who got a glimpse at what was going on in the other world. And he saw that those who had been elevated in this life were at the very bottom there. Conversely, ordinary people occupied honorable places there. There is a good example. Imagine an actor who is admired by everybody. But the curtain falls down, a theatrical life is over, and when he gets to the other world, he finds out that nobody pays any attention to him. On the other hand, his gardener occupies an outstanding place. Of course it is a bit abstract and simplified, but this gives us a possibility to understand that everything depends on whether we have worked for the Almighty, or for our own ambition. If a winner is one who, having reached outward success, has not learnt anything, and has not become purer and better, but on the contrary, has turned into a presumptuous, proud, and greedy personality, then that person has failed, no matter how high on a pedestal he may stay. On the other hand, if a failure accepts his defeat as a Higher Will, and will not become depressed nor feel sorry for himself or angry, then they will gain a true victory, a victory over themselves, which brings spiritual growth and happiness. If one person sets himself up as higher than another, it doesn’t give any honor. The true honor is surpassing oneself.

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3.9.3. A Role is Unimportant, the Way you Play it is Important A man is the only living thing on earth capable of being a fraud. A dog will never get it into its head that it is a horse. But a man has a tendency to try and wear much “greater” or just different masks. It is important to understand that we are all players in the same performance, where every role is very important. So if one role is changed, the whole performance should be changed. It is not a role itself that is important, but the way we play it. In 2005, in Los-Angeles, at a huge Vedic spiritual festival, the organizers decided to stage a big theatrical performance. For one of the minor roles they invited a woman who took to it very seriously. They rehearsed for a very long time. Though her role took up only a few minutes in the performance, she was the one who was applauded most of all, and many people said that due to her, they were impressed a lot by the performance. As she acknowledged later, she had been successful because she had played a role that suited her by nature, but if she would have played the role of the queen, she would not have been successful at all. It is the same in life. Our destiny is to play well the role that is given to us for this life. And our happiness and harmony in this and the next lives depend on how well we play it. The German philosopher Nietzsche said, “Until a person feels how something eternal and complete functions inside him and through him, his life has no meaning.”

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3.9.4. An Expert’s Answer I am inserting here an answer from one of my teachers, doctor of medicine David Frawley. “The majority of us in the West live in a very competitive environment, with a fast tempo of life. How is it possible to combine the focus on inner spiritual growth with everyday responsibilities at work?” “We need to understand that it is impossible to have everything. You need to decide what you really want to have in life. Probably you will not be able to run for too many things in the material department, while expecting that a good spiritual life will come to you from somewhere outside, whenever you feel like it. Establish your main goals and direct your main energy to them. Try to follow the way that corresponds with your Dharma (your destiny) and does not cause evil to others. Be ready to live a simple life if necessary. Trust in the higher energies that will take care of you after you have chosen your higher way of life. Vedic astrology can help you recognize what kind of occupation you need to do.”

Step Four How to Overcome Apathy and where to Derive energy 4.1. Is it Possible to Always be Happy? “I want very much to always remain happy. Is it possible? I have tried various diets, but still feel a lack of energy. I began practicing yoga. For the first two months I experienced a lift, but then everything returned back – constant lack of energy and no desire to continue the practice. On my wife’s advice I visited healers and extrasensory experts, but the results were either worse or better for only a very short time. How can I overcome apathy and where can I take energy?” Thank you for your questions, which are relevant for every person, as a lack of energy is the first sign of impending misfortunes and diseases. Ayurveda says that there are two signs that a person is making progress in spiritual life: 1. The person becomes happier and happier every day. 2. Relationships with other people are constantly improving. If these signs are not in evidence, than no matter what spiritual or religious practice one has, it means he is becoming degraded. True happiness comes from dedication, from sacrifice, because we can feel love only during the process of giving. A selfish, greedy, and envious person is not able to love, and it is unlikely that anybody will love such a person or will want to have anything to do with him. Consequently, he cannot be happy.

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We can give a lot to this world only if we are independent of it. The fewer attachments we have in this world, the more we are able to give, and, consequently, the more we are able to love. But if the readiness to take and to receive is greater then the readiness to give, it means you are dependent. The one who receives is dependent; the one who gives is independent. One of the teachers of Cabbala told me that the main goal of his doctrine is to make a person altruistic and free from egoism. Ayurveda, the most ancient medical system, which is amazing in its depth and wisdom, says that all diseases and sufferings originate from such qualities as greed and envy, as they increase egoism and self-centeredness. What happens to a body organ or a cell that does not want to work for the whole organism, but only wants to receive and consume the organism’s resources? Such organs become cancerous, and if the organism cannot get rid of them, it will die. Thus, the Universe as a whole tends to get rid of cancerous cells, selfish people, and even entire civilizations, first of all, by stopping the energy supply for them. The enlightened Aryas mentioned in their canons that civilizations do not die as a result of wars, natural disasters, etc., but only when everybody starts thinking only about themselves, how to only take, and not to give. And the main principle of harmony is the exchange of energies. Only this can open people’s hearts for love and bring happiness to the world. The ancient healers-hermits, Vaidyas, would say that a man is a cellular Universe, and if they do not live in harmony with it, they will not be happy. The modern authorities in psychology and medicine corroborate this as well. Professor Stanislav Grof: “The reason of all crises on earth is an insatiable determination to follow for linear (egoistic) goals.”

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Peter Russell: “In order to overcome a global crisis of civilization, at the basis of which is a crisis of consciousness, we need to get free of an egoistic, materialistic modus of consciousness, which gives birth to all problems.”

4.2. Spiritual Homeostasis Egoism and greed are dangerous as they destroy homeostasis. Paracelsus defined homeostasis as a state of complete harmony between the internal and external worlds. In order for homeostasis to exist, a living thing needs to produce energy. If energy is not produced, then a living thing begins to be dependent on surroundings. The main principle of independency from the world is production of energy by a living thing. Homeostasis begins at the spiritual plane and spreads to the physical and chemical. In order for spiritual homeostasis to exist, we should not depend on the world. As the heavier I depend on the world in any area, the faster I will be destroyed by the changes of this world. A primitive man could easily die of drought or fall in temperature. It was noticed long ago that it is the egoistic and aggressive people who perish first in critical situations, such as concentration camps, or being at the mercy of nature. Nothing seems to be able to influence yogis who are not attached to anything in this world. They can sleep on nails, and the snow around them melts. In Stalin’s time there was an order to first shoot religious people and priests, as they, by some strange way, did not die in the hellish conditions of the concentration camps, but took care of the other prisoners, while radiating light and bliss until their very last minute. Thus, we should stop being consumers; to give is much more important. But if we give on physical, emotional, etc. levels, then

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we need to take somewhere too. But we can only take energy on the transcendent level, where it exists in an unlimited quantity. This purest Divine spiritual energy flows through us if we do not restrain a feeling of love, if we feel that love should direct us, that we are secondary, and if we can retain this feeling, even when we lose something (money, status, a beloved one, etc.). Through a feeling of absolute love we get main energy, which can be spent on everything. Food gives us energy on the external level, but takes it away on the internal one. Note that people who occasionally fast are much more energetic then those who eat a lot. That is why when we fall ill we stop eating. This entire world, with its constant stress and worries, as well as food, unspiritual communication, gratuitous sex, takes energy, whereas fasting and solitude gives energy. But the biggest receipt of energy comes through an unbroken feeling of love. That is why one of the first rules of a healthy life is to love the world with all its imperfections, to love oneself (no matter what one is), one’s fate in all situations and any life circumstances. One teacher of the Cabbala, commenting on the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” explained that commandments are interpreted at seven levels. At the first level this commandment means: do not kill a human being; at the highest, seventh level it means: do not kill love inside. As this is the main sin – repudiation of love and denial of the unity with God. So, you need to put all your efforts into being free of egoism and greed. Set before yourself a life goal to reach God’s love, as we take energy from our goals, and the very act of intense striving for God’s love fills us with Divine energy.

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Please note that our civilization lives under the slogan “Take, take, take!” Meanwhile, the number of happy and healthy people is decreasing every day. Problems at the state and international levels are increasing every day. And neither new medicines, nor various techniques from the series “How to become happy and healthy”, nor a multitude of voluntary organizations can help. The number of people affected by chronic fatigue syndrome is increasing every day. Can things really be any different? All enlightened sages from all spiritual schools, as well as modern progressive scientists, confirm: everything originating from the ego, from selfish motives, even if it outwardly seems to be positive, leads to ruin and suffering. Whereas, everything originating from the soul, i.e. from a feeling of Unconditional Love, leads to blissfulness, health, and complete harmony of the individual and his surroundings.

4.3. A Real-Life Incident During 2005 and 2006 I gave a consultation to a very interesting man. He had been very seriously studying spiritual practices for over ten years. He regularly visited holy sites, paid careful attention to his diet, had yoga sessions with a famous yoga teacher…. But nobody had seen him happy for a long time, and his diseases became more and more severe with each year. He was unlucky in his private life too. At the last consultation he arrived in a deep depression, which, as he told me, had been his usual state for the last few months. As usual, he was ready to write down my recommendations. From previous experience I knew that he would try to follow all of them. I asked him to put his notepad aside and honestly, with an open heart, to participate in a discussion on the subject “Can an egoistic man really be happy?”

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He said, “Rami, I have read your articles and the books you recommended. I know what you are aiming at. But I don’t feel like discussing philosophy now. Doctors suspect I might have cancer, and my psychotherapist insists I should take strong antidepressants. I would like to have...” “You will have, just wait a minute. All your questions start with words like I would like, how should I, my desire. All your thoughts and words revolve around I and mine. Everything you do is for yourself only. You even pray and visit holy places in order to recover, to find a well-paid job. Do you bring joy to anybody at all? Whom have you made happy?” “But I am becoming more refined in all aspects, and the world only wins because of it,” he said proudly. “I don’t know about the world, but for your relatives you are a big headache. For whom have you done any good in the last few years? Stop living while only concentrating on yourself and only for your own sake. Go and clean up after sick children in an orphanage, find a single elderly neighbor to take care of, clean rubbish in a public place... But don’t tell anybody about it. Stop having this long face, as if the whole world owes you something. Learn to listen and understand other people. OK, enough theory. Go and start doing something physically.” In a few days I got a call from his mother, who joyfully thanked me for a suddenly enlightened son. In a few months I flew to his town to conduct seminars. He came up to me before one seminar, looking radiant, bearing gifts and warm thanks. He said that for the first time in his life he had experienced a state of spiritual trance, when one hour after our consultation, in a supermarket, he had paid the amount due for an old lady who had not had enough money, and provided her with money. After his first visit to an orphanage, where he had cleaned a floor and given yoga lessons for children, he cried for several hours in a state of spiritual trance.

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He does not have enough time for doctors or a psychotherapist, but he does not have any need for them. Last week he received his analyses, and it turned out that the tumor that was suspected to be malignant had completely disappeared. Understanding and accepting this, begin to live as if you were an embodiment of Unconditional Love. Substitute criticism for gratitude. Change questions such as “What can I get from this person, this society?” to “What can I give my surroundings? How can I bring happiness into their lives? How can I fill them with love?” Stop concentrating on yourself and your problems. Keep in mind the statement made by the Sufi sages, “Hell is the place where there is nobody nearby that you can help.” And then you will feel how huge energy flows through yourself, filling you and the people around you with bliss and harmony. You will notice that the number of your visits to doctors, psychologists, extrasensory experts, and healers will significantly decrease. Just the opposite, by meeting you they themselves will improve, discover new aptitude, and, most importantly, will be filled with unfathomable energy of God’s love. Try it, and you will not be disappointed!

4.4. How do we Receive Subtle Energy? We receive subtle energy when we: - Fast; - Do breathing exercises; - Practice seclusion; - Take a vow of silence; - Walk (or just spend time) along the seaside, on mountains, or meditate on beautiful natural scenery;

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- Practice unselfish creativity; - Praise any meritorious individual for their worthy character and deeds; - Laugh, feel joyful, smile from the heart; - Selflessly help somebody; - Display modesty; - Say a prayer before meals; - Eat foods that contain lots of Prana (life energy): natural grains, porridges, ghee (clarified butter), honey, fruits, vegetables; - Sleep from 9-10 o’clock PM until 2 o’clock AM (during the rest of the day the nervous system does not get any rest, no matter how much we sleep); - Get a good massage session done by a harmonious personality, or do self-massage; - Shower with cold water, especially in the morning; for strongest results, standing with our bare foot on the floor; - Sacrifice our time and money; - Accept any unfairness, first of all, because behind everything we perceive God’s will. Every person has his own opinion, and the majority of people consider themselves always right.

4.5. When we Lose Subtle Energy The following factors lead to a loss of energy: - Depression, dissatisfaction with one’s fate, sorrow for the past, fear and resistance of the future,

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- Setting and following after selfish goals, - Existence with no purpose, - Grievances, - Overeating, - Uncontrolled wandering of mind, failure to concentrate, - Partaking of fried food, or old food, food prepared by a person in anger or with other hurtful feelings; using a microwave, products containing preservatives, chemical additives, grown in artificial conditions with use of chemical fertilizers, - Consumption of food which is deficient of prana: coffee, black tea, white sugar, white flour, meat, alcohol, - Eating in a hurry or while in motion, - Smoking, - Idle talk, especially if we criticize or blame somebody, - Incorrect breathing, for example: too frequent or too deep, - Standing under direct sunlight between the hours of 12 PM and 4 PM, especially in a desert, - Abnormal sexual relations, sex without desire, and especially without love to one’s partner, - Excessive sleep, sleep after 7 AM, lack of sleep, - Exertion of mind and body, - Avarice and greed. 50% of Eastern psychology consists of pranayama – the theory and practice of selected breathing techniques, which permit one

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to be constantly full of life energy (Prana). Modern enlightened yoga teachers say that we can receive Prana through: 1. Earth element: eating natural food, living in nature, contemplating trees, walking barefoot on the ground. I recently talked with a very famous Ayurveda doctor, who had put together a thesis on medicine. He said that if someone begins to live in the countryside, far from the big cities where one has to use the subway and walk on asphalt, then the immune system recovers very quickly and they start living a healthy life. 2. Water element: drinking water from wells and streams, swimming in a river or the sea, avoiding caffeinated drinks, alcohol and soda. 3. Fire element: staying in the sunlight and consuming foods containing sunlight: fruits, grains, etc. 4. Air element: this is the most important element, which helps get Prana through breathing in fresh air, especially in mountains, forests and at the seaside. Smoking and spending time in crowded places causes a loss of Prana. 5. Ether element: developing positive thinking, kindness, and a good mood. This level is considered the basic one. For even if one lives in the countryside and keeps good diet, but at the same time one is angry and bad-tempered, then on the contrary, the excess Prana will destroy him even faster. On the other hand, a harmonious person, who is good-natured and fearless, can spend plenty of time in the city, if they have to live there. But even such people should follow good diet and periodically make a “getaway” from the city to nature. Churches, temples and monasteries are the sources of Prana in cities.

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4.6. Black Color Devours Light; White Color Reflects it It seems to be a self-evident truth, which has been well known for a long time, but if you think carefully about it, you will notice that it has a profound philosophical meaning. Light is usually associated with something pure, which gives energy, happiness and health. For example, the Sun, without which life on earth would either stop or turn into hell. In many spiritual and religious schools of thought one of the main attributes of God is light: for example, in Cabbala, Islam, some Hindu and other traditions. People who have had a near-death experience said that the Divine reality is a light full of love. Even without entering into philosophical discussions, let’s consider who it is that we usually call a sweetheart (in Russian this is “solnyshko”, literally “little sun”): a person who radiates a lot of light and kindness, who is not naturally selfish. Saints all had nimbus above their heads, which were noticed with the naked eye. A greedy, envious, naturally selfish person will never be called “solnyshko” by anybody. Rather they are gloomy, darker than a black cloud. From a medical standpoint, when a heaven-born specialist sees the fine aspects of the body, then he says about the badly stricken or affected organs: “You have a black spot here, your liver is black,” which means that it is ill. I am sure everybody has heard about the existence of black holes in the Universe. Many things still need to be researched, but one of the factors of a black hole is obvious; it is some energetic substance that only swallows up everything and it is impossible to get out of it. It is a kind of a cancerous organ, or a cancerous cell on the Universe’s body. What are cancerous cells? Medical research shows that cancerous cells do not come from outside; these are the body’s own cells,

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which served the body organs up to a point and fulfilled the task of guaranteeing the body’s vital functions. But at some moment they change their attitude and behavior, and begin to put new ideas into practice, declining to serve the bodily organs; they reproduce, break morphological borders, set up everywhere their own “team sites” (metastases), and eat up healthy cells. A cancerous tumor constantly grows and needs oxygen. But breathing is a mutual process, and cancerous cells function based on the principle of crass egoism, so they do not have enough oxygen. Then the tumor moves to an autonomous, more primitive form of breathing – fermentation. In this case each cell can “ferment” and breathe independently from the body. In the end, the cancerous tumor kills the organism and, as a result, dies together with it. But at the beginning cancerous cells were very successful, they grew and multiplied much faster and better than the healthy cells. Egoism and self-sufficiency, at the end of the day, is a way to nowhere. The philosophy “I don’t care about the other cells”, “I am what I am”, “Everything should serve me and bring me pleasure” – this is the world viewpoint of a cancerous cell. Therefore, every second we face a choice: whether, on the one hand, to illuminate the world; to bring goodness for yourself and happiness to the people around you; to smile; to show concern for others; to serve unselfishly; to make sacrifices; to control your baser impulses; to see every person as a teacher; to see Divine providence in every situation, which has been created to teach us something; to be grateful. Or, on the other hand, to complain; to take offence; to bear grievances; to envy; to live with a long face; to be immersed in your own problems, into earning money in order to spend it on gratification of your senses; to be aggressive. In this case, no matter how much money one has, one will be unhappy and gloomy,

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and every day will have less and less energy. And in order to take it from somewhere, one will need artificial stimulants: coffee, cigarettes, alcohol, and nightclubs, arranging a relationship with somebody. All these provide a lift at the beginning, but in the end cause severe harm. A simple regular question to ask yourself: “Do I shine for the world or use up light?” can very quickly change our way of thought and consequently our actions, and easily turn our life into a beautiful, shining light, full of love. And then the question of where to take energy will not even need to be asked.

Step Five Understanding the Main Principle of the Universe It is August 2006. We are traveling across Alaska, an amazingly beautiful land. Every day we see something new: some unusually magnificent glaciers, waterfalls, villages of the land’s early settlers, gold diggers, a museum of the first Russian emigrants. But the first thing that springs to my mind is not any of these. A very famous American hypnotizer was invited to our ship. He held a real show where common people did everything he asked for, projected themselves into various images, and did such things as they would never do in their normal state of consciousness. Suddenly he gave an order, “It is very cold in this room.” Many of us really became blue from cold, got goose bumps, and started putting on any clothes they could. And then something happened that really surprised me: the sickest and unhappiest woman tried to steel clothes away from others. Most of those present also only took care about themselves. But one elderly married couple, who had happily lived together for about thirty years and had practically never fallen ill, first of all took care of each other. When they felt that some other people nearby were suffering too, they began helping out these people as well by sharing their small travel rug. When they were dehypnotized, they could not remember what had happened with them. But I remembered. For the rest of our trip I continued watching these people, and their example proved once again that the more one is capable of sacrifice, the more harmonious and happy one can be.

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5.1. Philosophizing at the Lowest Point of the Earth The world is not logical and rational at all. Fight it with its own weapon: when you do something good, do it without any reason. Lubavitcher Rebbe, from thoughts of a wise Rabbi

If you simply understand it and apply it in life, you will reach the highest level of harmony, rid yourself of all kinds of suffering and illness and, most importantly, you will reach God’s Love, which is the true and only meaning of life for all living things. Why is this question so serious? The thing is, the main principle of the Universe is the exchange of energies. And the most important energy is the energy of God’s Love, which is the basis of all interconnections in the Universe. This energy connects all living things to God. When it enters one’s heart, and the heart is free of anger, greed, desire, jealousy, arrogance and pride, it brings enormous happiness (Ananda). And if the individual shares this love with his surroundings, then this happiness will be multiplied hundreds of times, they will become totally healthy and their life will become like one big celebration. So it is not too hard to fathom: the more you give and the more unselfish you are – the happier you will become. The main factor blocking this happiness from us is our ego, which is identification of oneself with one’s body and the desire to live only for oneself. It is this egoism that makes us dependent upon this world, by tying us to such aspects as money, family, social status, and various ethical, spiritual or religious principles. All this in turn deforms our character, where such traits as greed, fears, pride, etc., increasingly begin to predominate. But the most frightening thing is that we develop a consumer attitude to life.

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We may begin to spout complaints and grievances: “What for, how could you (or he, she, they) dare? How can God let this happen? Why is there so much injustice in the world? For example: I and someone else have such utter misfortune, whereas these vulgar scoundrels just get money swimming into their pockets?” Or even something like, “I am self-sacrifice personified; I am helping everybody, and in return nobody could care less about me.” The point is, it is very important to determine where the desire to help others comes from, whether it comes from the ego or from the soul? A selfish and proud man also likes to help from time to time – after all, this will strengthen their pride and reinforce the ego. But everything that has its basis in the ego leads to destruction. What are the main criteria that help us understand whether helping one’s neighbor comes from the ego or from the soul? If it is done selflessly, without waiting for anything in return, without blowing one’s trumpet about it to others, and if one derives enjoyment from the very process of giving, and one also understands that sometimes love means to be able to say “no” to others and be strict, then this comes from the soul. If one sacrifices something: time, money, attention, etc., but does it reluctantly and with the intention of getting something in return: honor, recognition, or even love, or if he goes around telling everyone of his deeds, then, as you can understand, it comes from the ego, and it will not bring any good. On the contrary, this person will become surrounded by freeloaders from among the friends and relatives whom he has helped. Thus, instead of gratefulness, his beneficiaries will somehow remain with hard feelings and complaints to him. Some modern psychologists confirm that if you want to be happy and satisfied, you need to do something good to others in secret at least a few times a week, without telling anyone. The fact

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that it is possible to do good more than two times a week, without any reason, will never come to these psychologists’ minds... “This is how darkness comes out of us: At the beginning it agrees with everything good that we do. When it comes to our mind to contemplate something, it says, “Yes, think it over. This is how you will turn into a great sage!” When we are going to make a good deed, it whispers, “Excellent, this is very beneficial. You will be paid back for it later.” Gradually, step by step, it convinces us that everything good done by us needs its approval. This is how we fall into its trap.” The Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson While I was writing this article, I received a knock at my door (this happened in a kibbutz at the Dead Sea in Israel). A friend of mine, a successful businessman from Lithuania, came to pick me up for breakfast. We exchanged niceties and I inquired how he had slept. He said that at around 12 o’clock midnight a family from one of the next rooms was having a party right under his window. The kids were making lots of noise; the music was very loud, and the parents were shouting joyfully without paying any attention to anybody. This lasted for several hours. He joyfully remarked to me that thanks to this, he had now achieved a number of spiritual realizations. I immediately became aware of his high level; he did not have any resentment or complaints, on the contrary, he realized that God had sent him this lesson in order to teach him something. And this is the only correct position in this world: to treat all incidents as lessons and all people as teachers. Indeed, God does not send anyone other than angels to us. As a result of that night’s events he proved to himself once again that selfish people are seriously lacking, as they cannot put themselves in somebody else’s shoes and therefore cannot

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treat others the way they would like to be treated themselves. Without this, a person cannot succeed in any sphere and especially not in business. He said that people who concentrate only on themselves cannot be truly successful, as they are not able to build sincere and friendly relationships, and to be intuitive and sensitive. Neither can they be particularly successful as marketing specialists, as they judge everybody from their own perspective. They are only motivated by fear, greed, etc. We were then walking along a very beautiful path, with an extremely magnificent view of the Dead Sea illuminated by the rising sun. On the right was the majestic canyon where the Qumran manuscripts, the most ancient copies of Christian and Hebrew Holy Scriptures in the world, had been found. After the rain, which is so rare in those parts, the air seemed to be like a drink from Heaven. My heart was simply singing from my companion’s words, and the whole atmosphere contributed to this. I reflected that I was lucky to have such a friend like this who, after such incidents, did not grumble or take offence against the world, but maintained his love and calmness and, as a result, could undergo the deepest spiritual realizations. Meanwhile, he continued, “During that night I remembered all such people, who had worked for me or with me. I noticed that all of them, even if they were fine experts, failed after some time, whereas those who had a godly nature, even if they had run into some difficulties at the beginning, later became successful in all respects.” I agreed with him. The majority of wealthy and successful people for whom I had held consultations were balanced and harmonious people inside. And the more harmonious, the more successful and healthy they are. The same was said in the ancient Holy Scriptures, which had been written by enlightened sages, in all parts of the world.

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The Qumran manuscripts, which had been found not far from the place where we had our discussion, had been written by people leading an ascetic way of life directed at extirpation of egoism. Ayurveda, a Divinely given medicine, teaches that the main cause of all diseases is greed and envy originating from egoism, which will always be followed by complaints, offences, and unwillingness to stick to one’s proper path and follow one’s Dharma. The ancient Aryas mentioned in their canons that civilizations do not die as a result of wars, natural disasters, etc., but only when everybody starts thinking only about themselves, how to take more and give less. And the main principle of harmony is the exchange of energies. Only this can open people’s hearts for love and bring happiness to the world. The Hyperboreans, a very advanced civilization, whose remains had been found on the North of the Arctic Circle, said, “A person, as a part of the Universe, can only be happy when his heart is open. The destination of life in this world is to produce and give love. Only love can enable us to exist in harmony with other forms of life.” Similar statements were made by the Vaidyas, the Brahmanshermits, who collected the knowledge of the ancient Aryas and were amazing in their wisdom, longevity, and excellent health. The main thing is that they established that the root of all illnesses and misfortunes is a closed heart, which disrupts harmony and stimulates such faults as greed, pride, jealousy, aggression and hate. This is discussed in the Cabbala, that our main purpose is to get free of egoism. In other words, the Hebrew and Christian prophets and holy men speak of it.

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Thus, we come back to where we started: “It is more blissful to give than to receive”; “The elevated souls produce and give goodness, while the fallen souls only receive it.” Only by properly understanding this true fact and by living in conformity with it, you will get a real taste of bliss.

5.1.1. Personal Realizations 1. We have gone through all the checkpoints and are sitting in the departure lounge of the Delhi airport. We have an hour remaining before departure. Notwithstanding the late hour, the lounge is crowded with people and it is very noisy. We have just flown from southern India. My friend stays with our luggage, and my wife and I are going to wander around the gift shops. On the way I notice an Internet kiosk, I go in and check my mail. One of the letters is very urgent: I am asked to correct an article I have written for some magazine. I immerse myself into this activity, completely forgetting about everything. I finish shortly before the boarding and return to our friend in a happy mood. But I find him not happy at all; he had not been able to visit the shops or the toilet, he was forced to sit like a guard. And I feel ashamed... It is so easy to talk about unselfishness, absolute love, the dangers of selfishness, but it is so difficult to realize it in practice: to be able to put oneself into another person’s shoes, to stop concentrating on oneself. The irony of it is that this was precisely the same friend with whom I had philosophized at the Dead Sea... 2. We are two hours’ ride from Los Angeles, in a wonderful place, at the top of a mountain, in a little village of followers of various types of meditations. Everything around us inspires peacefulness. My friends invited me here for a few days, so that I could have a rest and prepare for consultations and training.

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This is the best present one can imagine. The saying that “God created a village and the Devil created a city” is very easily understandable and plausible here. This atmosphere is slightly spoiled by a teenager, the son of one member of our small team. He is not quite stable psychologically, very selfish, throwing tantrums if something does not go the way he wants, and paying practically no attention to others. We are drinking tea, and when he comes and sees his favorite cookies, he shouts for joy and runs to hug the woman who has brought him these cookies. His father grumbles, “It is like this. Either he has hateful outbursts and complaints, or he is a picture of tenderness and love.” But I notice that he only expresses this “love” and tenderness to those who fulfill his desires. But this is not the main observation. What surprises me most is that he does not even touch other similar cookies. Maybe not the right prayers were read over them; maybe something unacceptable was added to their content. Actually, he follows certain rules and regulations quite strictly. I believe everybody knows or has at least seen such people. When they grow, they may even become great spiritual or religious leaders. People look at them and become greatly affected, because they so strictly follow everything. But spiritual movements headed by such people, as a rule, bring only problems to the world; and the followers of these cults degenerate physically, mentally and spiritually with time, sometimes already in this life. Whatever we have inside, we also have the same outside. If one has egoism, greed, coldness and cruelty inside, then outside it is not difficult to be a strict follower of some system: communist, fascist or even religious. And the latter is the most dangerous, as in this case a person is often sure that they will get to enter paradise; that their surroundings are full of injustice and people who are lower than them. These beliefs can exist at the very least in

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a spiritual way; or what is more dangerous, they progress to the point that they can use force and kill other people for the sake of ideas or principles. In America some cars have the following bumper stickers: “God, please spare me from your followers.” Then there is the other extreme, which is also due to similar problems. Egoism indicates a lack of love, and consequently many fears. That is why such people very often appear very kind, fearful, not able to refuse anybody or to request anything. They are always pursuing and giving good to others. They often have an obsessive desire to save or help someone. Psychologists have noticed long ago that if you have an obsessive desire to help someone, it means you are ill yourself and you are the one who needs help. Everything originating from ego has a destructive tendency, even help... Many selfish people like to help others, especially to give advice, as this increases a person’s importance. If something has gone wrong with somebody, they are the first to exclaim, “I have warned you!” One of the indications that an individual belongs to this second group is that after every other “help” they complain that nobody appreciates or thanks them; or that they act kindly to someone simply because they cannot refuse or ask for help. Such people, both “Mr. Nice Guy” types and “dictators” are very self-righteous and sure of themselves; they often judge other people and the world as a whole. After all, they are so upright: they follow principles, and cause good. Usually, if such people do not possess sincerity and good reason, then it will require many difficult incarnations with highly painful lessons, until these people understand that all problems originate from egoism, which gives birth to fear, self-righteousness, and also mental and physical diseases. Every such person has their own opinion and consider themselves right.

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5.2. The Art of Accepting Gifts A few years ago I flew to Kazakhstan to conduct seminars. I was met in the best traditions of the Eastern hospitality: all the best is for a guest. I did not feel very comfortable and tried to refuse whenever possible. Because of this one very good psychologist told me, “You speak about the importance of love, the ability to give, but if you cannot accept and do not receive love, then you will not be able to give either. You will simply not have anything to give.” These words made me think a lot and reconsider my views and behavior. Later I saw many times how it works: people who cannot accept cannot be harmonious, and a relationship built only on one person’s contribution cannot be called successful and happy. I was recently introduced to a man who, in his forties, was married for the third time. All women had left him, notwithstanding the fact that he was an ideal husband in all respects: he was well paid, did everything around the house himself, and did not allow his wife to do practically anything. Every morning he would bring her coffee in bed. But strangely, love faded away from these women’s hearts very quickly, and their hearts closed. The thrust of the matter is that hearts get opened in the moment of giving, the moment of sacrifice. And if we do not allow our nearest and dearest to sacrifice, to give us something, then their hearts become closed towards us. And quite often they even unwittingly begin hating us, stop respecting, and on the external level, simply sponge and make complaints. Do you doubt this? Try to remember families where parents lived for the sake of their children, doing everything for them and not requiring anything in return, and, on the other hand, families where the children had some household responsibilities and had

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to do something for the family, help their parents, as is especially recognizable in large families. In which group do you think the grown children will leave their parents in a home for elderly people, or simply treat them negatively, and in which one they will show respect and care? The same can also be applied to man-woman relationships. Modern psychologists have also noticed that if a person makes a sacrifice or gives you something, their attitude to you will suddenly change. This fact is actively put to use by a number of charitable organizations, which will frequently approach those who have given charity at least once, as they know that it is much easier to receive charity from a person of modest means who has already given something, than from a rich man who has never given them anything. This method is used by authors of various techniques of the type “How to become a bitch.” They have noticed that men often leave Cinderella types for bitches, who can milk a man for all he is worth. Of course, this is the other extreme. And after a while it will trigger a reaction. As when a person is just used and manipulated, then their hearts will close towards those that sponge off them. In these cases the energy exchange is lacking. It can also be applied to any kind of services; if you want yourself, your work, consultations, private lessons, or productivity not to be respected, valued and appreciated, then it is simple: start doing everything for free or for a ludicrous price, do not allow people to express their thanks to you in some way. Think about “ for what” a mother loves her newborn? Is it very beautiful? It doesn’t let her sleep, it cries and needs to be washed all the time. Or sometimes you might hear, “What does he/she see

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in him/her? She cannot be fitting for him, so plain, uneducated!” It is simply that this child, partner, or colleague “allows” the giver to selflessly take care of them and they accept the help. And as a result, the giver’s heart opens, with all consequences that ensue from it: the partner develops the taste for life, all diseases disappear, and energy materializes.

5.3. We can Make Others Happy by Accepting Something from Them There are parables in certain traditions, as well as simple assertions that by accepting life and life’s gifts, we cause pleasure to the Almighty, and vice versa; if we do not accept, or consider ourselves unworthy, this “distresses” Him a lot. Here is a parable: A man comes to visit a friend of his, and when he sees a very richly laid table, he begins eating greedily, having forgotten about everything. But in a little while he is overcome with a sense of shame, and puts the plates aside and completely stops eating. But then he notices that this also does not make his friend happy, as he has put so much effort into preparing and organizing this dinner. So he starts eating slowly, consciously savoring every dish and sincerely expressing gratitude. And this gives lots of joy to the host. This analogy is carried over to the Almighty, who created this world with many gifts for us, and who is glad to see how we accept these gifts and live gratefully. If we decline to accept, this “distresses” the Creator. We all need to have an object of our care and love. This is how the world is made. A soul can only be happy by loving and serving somebody. Even many marked egoists and dictators have pets, so that they may at least serve them. Therefore, if we do not allow people to do anything good for us and consider ourselves unworthy, then we break one of the princi-

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ples of Creation. This will ultimately cause our relationships with these people to be ruined; people will develop aggression towards us, and the Almighty will send less and less of His gifts. The Universe does not give us what we do not value, nor anything we do not want to accept by thinking that we are unworthy of the gift.

5.4. What is Paradise? I remember how I was surprised by the description of the Universe made by the enlightened ancient Indian sages. They state that there exist higher and lower worlds, heavenly and infernal, consisting in their turn of several different levels. There are 14 levels all together. The Earth is on the seventh, middle level. And at every higher level there is a hundred times more happiness than at the previous one. But in order to get to this level, you need to become a hundred times more unselfish... And this concerns the next life as well as this present moment: If you want to be born at the highest planets in your next life, you need to become more unselfish; and also the more unselfish one is in this life, at this present moment, the happier they are. Generally speaking, there are three levels of the sense of happiness: 1. I am happy when everybody around is happy. This level of consciousness exists at the highest, heavenly planets. Angels, unselfish and harmonious people have it. 2. I am happy when I feel good, and usually I do not care less what other people feel. This is the level of the middle planets. It is the most widespread in modern Western civilization.

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3. I am happy when others feel bad. This is the level of the hellish planets. Envious, greedy, and highly egoistic creatures on earth have it. Jesus Christ would say that the Kingdom of God is inside us. And we can create paradise or hell for ourselves anywhere, wherever we are. A greedy and envious person, no matter in what palace they live, will not be happy and healthy, as they create hell, wherever they are, for themselves and for the people around them. On the other hand, Mother Teresa, Saint Francis, Shivananda Swami, the six Goswamis of Vrindavana, and other saints always radiated happiness, and not only they were healthy themselves, but cured everybody simply by their presence. They had grown past all these ideas about the exchange of energies; they just completely sacrificed and entrusted their lives to God. And this is already not even Paradise... This is the Kingdom of God...

5.4.1. A Parable One man asked God to show him paradise and hell. At the beginning he found himself in a large banquet hall, where there was a huge table in the middle groaning with food. It was surrounded by people with their arms tied up straight, so that they could not place food into their mouths, as their arms could not bend at the elbows. They were constantly arguing and pushing each other away from the table. But even when they managed to get hold of some food, they could not eat or drink anything. And this made them even more furious. Food was scattered everywhere, and the atmosphere was penetrated with hatred. Then he found himself in a different hall, with a similar table. But there were calm and composed people around it, who were

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feeding each other from their hands and saying kind words to each other. Those being fed accepted it with love and appreciation, although their hands were also tied up, and everybody was satisfied and content. The atmosphere was full of love and kindness. Which hall was hell and which paradise, I am sure you have guessed.

5.5. Logical Proof of the Importance of Divine Love Believe in the power of love! S. Nadson

“Please forgive me, but I think you need to write less sentimentally; you speak so much about absolute love, Divine love, love for God; about how important it is to reach it, and that this needs to be the main purpose in life. In this century, abundant in extensive technical achievements, it seems to me that it is not that relevant. Moreover, it may be perceived as banality.” Thank you for your frankness! As for your remark regards Divine Love, this is a big tragedy of modern technical civilization and every person in particular, that the majority of people do not only not strive towards Divine Love, but are not even aware what it is. And the more such people there are, the more problems exist in society and in everyone’s lives. And in modern society practically nobody anywhere strives for Divine Love, Love for God. At best, there is an appeal to follow the moral and religious dogmas. But without love in one’s soul, it can only help grow religious fanatics, hypocrites and proud moralists. And even at institutes where they teach love for God, it is quite often done on the basis

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of selfish, consumer motives: “Turn to God, earn his love, and he will fulfill all your dreams!” breaking the main principle of God’s Love: to be unconditional and unselfish. It is easy to notice that there are two basic emotions in the world based on how a person thinks and behaves. They are fear or unconditional love. I understand that all this sounds simple and commonplace for you. But let us examine it from all angles, including scientific data, and also from the point of view of common sense.

5.5.1. Common Sense and Love Imagine that before you stands a kind-hearted magician who offers to fulfill all your material desires. You will have a big house, a husband earning a decent salary, beautiful and healthy children, and you yourself will become a first-class, highly valued specialist. But in exchange, you will be deprived of absolute love from your heart and consequently from all areas of your life. Then your life starts to resemble the life of a robot: a respectful but cold atmosphere prevails at home; each person cares only for himself; presents are given, if at all, out of a sense of duty or with ulterior motives. At work everybody is disgusted by you; your boss is respectful towards you as long as you bring good profit to the firm. Your best friend keeps company with you only because you are ready to listen to her for hours on end and help her materially. Are you sure that such a situation is what you want? I think it is easy to understand that this is not a kind-hearted magician but rather an evil Devil-tempter, and no sensible person will ever agree to his proposal.

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5.5.2. Love and Health All heaven-born healers and doctors confirm that illnesses start whenever the quantity of absolute love in a soul decreases. Very interesting experiments have been conducted in the Californian institute “HeartMath”. They have confirmed: when a person concentrates attention on matters of the heart and has such feelings as love and compassion, the rhythm of their heartbeat increases. This rhythm stabilization is followed by a flow of biochemical reactions and a burst of activity in the function of the nervous and endocrine systems, which influence all systems and organs of the body. The level of stress hormone, cortisol, decreases; the amount of antibodies in the organism’s defense system increases; the aging process slows down; the blood circulation of the brain improves, and, naturally, the general well-being improves as well. It is evident that when we are in a state of tranquil love, not laying down any conditions, our heart sends a special code to our brain, which makes these organs work in sync, in the most constructive manner. We become capable of experience a creative boost and can express our maximum potential. Rage and anger provoke a violent reaction. These emotions lead to imbalance in the organism’s defense mechanism. Such a stage significantly increases the risk of heart disease, and speeds up the aging process.

5.5.3. It is Impossible to Succeed in Business Without Love Bestselling author and business-consultant of the largest world corporations, Robin Sharma, writes: “Business flourishes most often in places where love exists. Success comes when you treat

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your customer with love. Recognition comes when you do your work with love. Leadership in any market comes when you sell your products with love. The most important thing in business is to love those who do business with you, and to appreciate them to a much greater degree than they expect. Business means relationship. People willingly make business with those for whom they feel sympathy. If you want people to put out their hands to you, you need to touch their hearts.” (From the book “The Greatness Guide”). Kevin Roberts, executive director of a huge corporation and author of the book “Lovemarks. The Future Beyond Brands” writes, “In all my 35 years devoted to business, I have trusted my emotions. I have always maintained that once you engage the emotional department you will acquire the best employees, the best partners and the most loyal consumers.” Neurologist Donald Kaln: “The substantial difference between emotion and intellect is that emotion leads to action, whereas intellect leads to a conclusion. It is markedly noted that the best leaders in business are those who live by their hearts and follow their intuition. People also choose a product based on their heart rather than their mind.”

5.5.4. Attitude of Psychology to Love As for psychology, I represent the Eastern branch, which is based on the principle that we are all souls, not bodies. We cannot live happily without Divine love, and we come into this world only to refine our consciousness and to awaken Divine love. The more we progress on this way, the happier and calmer we become. The entire Eastern psychology technique is directed, first and foremost, at getting authentic knowledge, and with its help to

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reach calmness of mind, to infuse our intelligence with spirituality, to get free of the false ego, and to start living by our true self, which is full of eternity, knowledge, and blissfulness, and whose very being is founded on selfless love. In modern Western psychology and psychotherapy there are no such concepts as God, soul, love. It is based on materialistic concepts. They see a man as a composition of chemical elements with an accidentally developed consciousness and mentality. Sigmund Freud was sure that psychotherapy would soon be substituted by chemistry. To put it bluntly, modern Western psychology does not have a precise definition of personality, and the question of the meaning of life is considered as a symptom of mental disorder. Freud wrote, “If a person is thinking about the meaning of life, it means he is seriously ill.” But by no means did all “specialists of psyche” share this materialistic concept. Plato, Augustine, Spinoza, etc., spoke about how a person is a soul and that love to God is very important. For example, Spinoza wrote, “Indeed, the soul’s nature is one whole, and its eternal destiny is unselfish and all-encompassing love.” Of the modern psychologists, first of all, I would like to mention Professor Victor Frankl, a brilliant psychotherapist, the founder of logotherapy, who had great moral qualities and a strong character. Having refused to emigrate and leave his relatives with the Nazis, he had gone through four concentration camps but miraculously survived. While he was in the camp, he demonstrated that a person is a soul, who does not depend on external circumstances, and the main driving force is absolute love. He radiated such a powerful flow of energy and love that even guards and executioners respected him. Later he wrote, “For the first time in my life I have understood the truth celebrated by so many poets, announced as the highest wisdom by so many thinkers. This truth is that love is the last and the highest purpose for which a human being can

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strive. Then I have realized also the meaning of the supreme mystery, which has been the subject of so many compositions: the salvation of a person through love and in love.” World-renowned Swiss psychotherapist, professor, and doctor Max Luscher wrote, “My experience, accumulated from decades of theoretical and practical research, has proved what I have always believed: the true meaning of all worthwhile behavior is harmony.” He expressed the concept of love as harmony, and he saw the highest demonstration of harmony in the first commandment of the Gospel of St. Mark: to love God. Abraham Maslow, a brilliant thinker who dealt with the questions of abnormal psychology, and the founder of humanistic psychology, considered love as a fundamental principle and wrote, “Unfortunately, the word “love” is not even mentioned in the majority of manuals on psychology.” Smiley Blanton in his book “Love or Perish” wrote, “For more than 40 years I held consultations and listened to people of all ages and social levels, who entrusted me with their fears and hopes... Now, after many years, I have clearly realized the truth: there is a universal need for love; people cannot live without love, they must get it or they will perish.”

5.5.5. Religions and Love From a philosophical point of view, God is love and we are parts of Him – immortal souls, and the more unconditional love we have inside of us, the closer to God and ultimately the happier we are. This is because the soul cannot live without love, so love is the breath of the soul, just like our body cannot live without breathing. We can enjoy real blissfulness only when we love and are loved.

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This is corroborated in all religions. In Judaism this was borne out by the life of Rabbi Akiva, the great Tana (sage) and teacher of law who had arranged the code of Halakha, the spiritual leader of the Jewish rebellion, who had shaped his life with the power of his love to the Almighty. Many sages compared him even to the prophet Moses, considering his contribution to the spiritual heritage of the Jewish nation no less significant. Rabbi Akiva has always been and will remain an example for many Jewish people, who have reached perfection by enduring a martyr’s death, but never relinquishing their devotion for the One God and the Holy Scriptures. When they were burnt alive in synagogues together with their Torah scrolls, they had the example of Rabbi Akiva in front of them, the one who had humbly accepted his martyr’s death. His execution was very cruel: his flesh was combed out of him alive. When he saw the sunrise, he began to recite the Kriat Shma shel Shacharit, as is the precept for each Jew every morning and evening. His close disciples said to him, “Our master, do you really have to? Surely this does not apply to you anymore!” To this Rabbi Akiva answered, “All my life I have been waiting for the moment when I will fulfill what is written in this Kriat Shma: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might.’ The sages say, ‘with all your heart,’ because the heart contains both incoming blood and outgoing blood, oxygenated and deoxygenated: the two sides of the heart, which from the point of view of the sages symbolize good and evil, benefit and harm. Thus ‘with all your heart’ means with both inclinations of the heart’s two cavities. And ‘with all your soul’ means even if your life is taken away from you. And now that I have this possibility, do you wish to deprive me of it?” In Christianity the fundamental concept of God’s love was pronounced by Jesus Christ. Once he was approached by a Phari-

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see who asked him, “You give many instructions and new commandments, but which one is the most important?” To this Jesus replied without hesitation, “The main precept is to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind, and to love your neighbor as yourself.” In Buddhism there are no statements as precise as this, due to the existence of many schools and the absence of such concepts as “God” and “soul.” But it is undoubtedly recognized that Buddha was a personification of absolute love and mercy. He taught that a person cannot reach perfection without cleansing his being, development of mercy, complete control over the mind, ahimsa (non-violence), and being free of egoism. And perfection is absolute love. Love is the fundamental reality that everyone must cultivate. The bliss of love is sweeter than nectar. Buddha publicized precisely this message of love. He felt this love and took pleasure in it, and at the end of his life he became one with it. This is what is said regarding Buddha by the enlightened sages. When it was time for Buddha to leave his physical body, he had a small coin that he had treasured carefully. Emperors had built magnificent palaces for him, had contributed huge sums of money. But this did not bring him especial joy. Once he was visited by an elderly poor lady, who gave him this coin from all her heart. He took the coin from her with both his hands and guarded it as a treasure. By this he wanted to emphasize that the most important thing is not how much you give, but rather it is love and humility that make the act of charity precious. What use is there in liters of donkey’s milk? A teaspoon of cow’s milk is much more valuable. Even a small coin becomes sacred if it is given with a pure heart. It is not the amount that is important but love and kindness. As for Islam, unfortunately I am not that deeply familiar with this religion, but I do know that the Koran says, “Those who believe are possessed with an enormous love for God.” The prophet

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Mohammed would say, “The one who possesses a strong love for God, untarnished in love and guarding his love as a secret from others, he will undoubtedly die holy.” I am more profoundly acquainted with Sufism (the movement of ascetic sages, which is considered the esoteric school of Islam). Sufism is a way to God through love. The Sufis consider the basis of the created world to be love. Any movement, activity, and light in the Universe originates from rays of love; the true perfection of existence should be sought for in love. The Sufis state that love is a composite of all that is perfect in a human being, and this composite can only be an attribute of the Absolute; and they believe that love is the essence of the Absolute Unity. Finally, it is impossible not to mention the Vedas, Divine instruction given to humanity many thousands of years ago, touching all spheres of life, and explaining how to reach success in them. The true success, the true perfection is considered to be the development of love and loyalty to God. The quintessence of the Vedas is considered to be the Bhagavad-Gita, and the Srimad Bhagavatam is known as “the ripe fruit of the tree of Vedic literature”. They are highly saturated with love and loyalty. Every verse underscores the special meaning of love. For example, “Neither religious activities endowed with honesty and mercy nor knowledge obtained with great penance can completely purify one’s consciousness if they are bereft of loving service to Me” (S.B.11.14.22).

5.5.6. Astrology and Love Now let us turn from religion to astrology. Indeed, for many years I have been learning and teaching this great science. The subject of my study is the ancient Indian astrology, which, although being a source of modern Western astrology, currently differs radically from it. As it is a part of the Vedas, its main

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goal is to help people reach harmony with themselves and the surrounding world, cleanse the consciousness, and get free of all forms of egoism. And most importantly, to know God, which is ultimately possible only through love. The ancient Indian astrology affirms that every person is a little Universe, and if something happens on one level, it is reflected on the other. The central position in the Vedas is the assertion that macrocosm exists in our consciousness, which in turn has no time and space limitations. We represent the whole Universe, which is a revelation of our own deepest Self. Our existence is love, light, and blissfulness. And although Vedic astrology successfully solves practical issues (compatibility in marriage, prediction of future events, psychological analysis of an individual, definition of Karmic goals, neutralization of negative points in a horoscope, etc.), its main and final goal is to demonstrate to mankind that nothing is accidental; God is behind everything; all the planets move due to His love energy; and the less one has love, the more severely the planets influence him, as the planets, like everything else in the Universe, are an attempt to help a man love God and get closer to God. But let us finish where we started, at the position of common sense: please look around carefully. Don’t you see that people, whose consciousness is saturated with hatred, envy, greed, egoism, etc., radiate a destructive energy, damaging to themselves and to the people around? Have you ever noticed that when you spend some time, even very little, with a kind person who is full of absolute love, you receive an enormous boost of positive energy and can stop a serious illness? Archbishop Desmond Tutu said it very well: “There is no situation that cannot be changed. There is no personality that is hopeless. There are no circumstances that cannot be changed by a person and their natural ability to express profound love.”

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In accordance with your birth chart, you are quite reasonable and spiritually advanced, and you can easily understand the reality that “Absolute Love is Life, and anything else is at best only a withering existence, filled with many different fears”... And this is the first and the most important step on the way to perfection. (Chapter 5.5 is taken with minor changes from my book “Fate and Myself”.)

Step Six How to Live a Sinless Life 6.1. Three Main Causes of Sin “I am working on my character; I try to get rid of one disease by refraining from a certain sin, the disease disappears, but another one surfaces; I find some other negative quality in myself, and it appears as though there is no end to diseases and sins; and no matter how we try, we only become more and more convinced of our weakness. From your point of view, is there any way out?” Indeed, it has become customary for us to live with diseases. Having found some medicine to treat one disease, doctors discover that some new ones have emerged, or that the viruses have learned to adapt to the medicine. Modern medicine tries to classify every illness and to produce some unique medicine for each one of them. But the main reason for all diseases, of which we can now count tens of thousands, does not get eliminated, just like it is with the attempt to lead a sinless life. Simply by trying to uproot one sin after another, you will prove to yourself how weak you are. And the perception of sin differs from culture to culture and from religion to religion. Moreover, apart from the ten main commandments, there are hundreds of others given by teachers and priests in their own movements, and a violation of these commandments leads to a sin. Some religious movements state that a person is already born in sin, and only by becoming a member of their religious organization can one get free of sin. But if you are honest you will notice that all diseases have one intrinsic source. There is only one sin,


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and this is renunciation of unity with God, when one stops living by absolute love. This is said by all the righteous masters. And the more we move away from God, from the feeling of absolute love, the more disharmonious our life becomes, the more mistakes we make. The Bhagavad-Gita, a quintessence of all Eastern wisdom, states that there are three causes of sin, that is to say, three reasons for barriers in our heart: 1. Lust. 2. Anger. 3. Greed.

The first cause of sin Firstly, everything starts from greed, a desire to consume more than to give. And we live in a society and a culture of consumers, where everything is saturated with the idea that the more you acquire, the happier you will become. And, generally speaking, it is not that important by which means you gain physical wellbeing. This is in spite of the fact that greedy and grasping people cannot be happy, much less successful, in personal relationships, as the most important rule in making any relationship work is to give more than you take. Belorussian psychologists have developed a test consisting of sixty questions, the main purpose of which is to define how greedy one is. Obviously, those who answered over forty questions affirmatively were all severely ill and unhappy people. It is just important to keep in mind that giving should come from the heart, that is to say, unselfishly, without waiting for anything in return. On the other hand, we should not turn the people we assist into parasites.

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When a person regularly contributes a minimum of 10% of their income for charity purposes, not counting help for relatives and friends whom we must help anyway, this is one of the indications that the person has passed this level. In both of these cases they should keep their help a secret. Greedy people always find some excuse: I cannot help “now,” let me earn a million first... Usually death or collapse may come faster... While proud egoists, even when they contribute to charity, do it on condition that it will be known among as many people as possible.

The second cause of sin The second cause of sin is anger, irritability, disapproval, reproach. A Japanese parable: once a famous samurai warrior, who had won many battles, came to a sage and asked him to show him, a great warrior, the road to paradise. At this the sage laughed in his face, “You are not great! You are a coward!” The warrior, without any hesitation, drew his sword and threatened the sage with it. To this the sage calmly responded, “This is the road to hell.” At the very last second the warrior stopped and put away his sword. The sage uttered in the same voice, “And this is the road to paradise.” The Bhagavad-Gita states that when you contemplate the objects of your feelings, an attachment to them appears, and when the attachment is broken down, it gives rise to anger. For example, you have seen the advertisement of a certain car. You make a big effort and buy this car. And then somebody steals the car or damages it, or even simply ridicules it. The more fury and anger you have towards this person, the more you are closed on this point.

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This concerns not only material things. A person can be attached to some ideology, principles, behavior, morals, way of life, etc. For example, when a person is late, or speaks in a manner we dislike, or wears clothes we dislike, if we, in response, feel anger and irritability, this will indicate that our heart is closed and we are users. We often think: this or that person ought to behave in such a fashion, I want them to be such and such, I want them to like me, etc. And when we do not receive a positive response, we feel aggrieved and angry and begin criticizing them. In modern civilization the majority of people are closed on this point. Many modern public, religious and spiritual leaders do not often even hide their anger and irritability. And this is one of the indicators that they serve their own ego and not the Truth, no matter what beautiful ideals they shelter themselves with while doing so. Anger is acceptable if it is used consciously and is put on as a mask. For example, you are a manager and need to severely reprimand your subordinates. At the same time, the telephone rings, and taking hold of the receiver, you answer with the same tone that you used while reprimanding, “What? Who’s that? Call later, this is not the right time.” This means you are a slave of baser energies, and your heart is closed. But if you answer the call in line with the situation, putting on a different mask as appropriate for the setting, and after the call ends you again consciously transform yourself to continue the instructive process, this shows you are master of your emotions, instead of them being master over you, and worthy of respect. Irritability, even if it is not shown on the surface, quickly blocks the heart’s chakra and destroys the nervous system. Once a very experienced driver explained to me how to identify a good driver: such a person always calmly accepts any scenario on the

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road, whereas a new or simply a bad driver is constantly agitated behind the wheel, everyone around him is to blame. And by some inexplicable way he attracts different problems on the road. This analogy can be used for every one of us. We are situated in this body, as if in a car, and while traveling along life’s journey, we choose how to react to what happens to us on the way, on the attitude of other people towards us. And if we choose anger, aggression, irritability, then our life becomes full of problems, misfortunes, and our health suffers a lot. It is obvious that a person who is resentful, irritable, full of anger is not able to love. It is important to understand that - In this world anything can happen at any moment; - In this world anything can change at any moment. And it can happen regardless of our will, as apart from our will there is the Higher Will, which we are not able to perceive by our limited consciousness. And it is very dangerous to try to make it subject to our will. Irritability, grievances, and contempt are indicators that we do not accept the Higher Will. And it is simple enough to examine yourself on the first two levels: how much are we ready to unselfishly give away without expecting anything in return or telling anyone about it? What do we offer more frequently, reproaches or thanks? How often do we feel irritability or dissatisfaction towards somebody or something, etc.? A simple test of how primitive someone is can be performed by paying attention to how often he becomes irritated. Chinese wisdom says, “The object of your dislike, hatred or irritability will follow you until you learn to love it or at least become balanced towards it. In order to avoid getting soiled by gross or subtle dirt, one needs to stop despising and criticizing it.”

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The third cause of sin The third level, the most difficult to understand and overcome, is lust. The Vedas state that a soul lives by its love to God in the spiritual world, but when this feeling of absolute love comes to the material world, it gets transformed into lust, sexual attachment. Sex is the biggest material enjoyment; that is why it is so easy to fall dependent on it, to start worshiping the basis of human gratification, sex, human love. And if one gets attached to it, they will be attached to everything else. All religions place some limitations to sexual freedom, and many modern researches conclude that the majority of crimes and psychological problems have a sexual basis underneath. But in modern civilization, sexual urge gets ignited in every possible way, and then one is encouraged to turn to decadence without giving a second thought. The maximum one gets to bear in mind is to pull on a condom in time. Eastern psychology is not against sex at all. It maintains that sex should be with a person you love. Its intensity should be in accordance with the natural level of passion. And properly performed sex raises one to the divine level. But this is another matter. Generally speaking, you must love God more than the loved one. You have to feel that human happiness is secondary, no matter how beautiful it may seem. But to realize that my true self is one thing, whereas human love, feelings, passions are another, earthly thing, is very difficult. In order to feel the Divine, one needs to put these moments away for some time. It is necessary to periodically step away from your life, from all problems connected to survival, work, security, etc., and, what is more difficult, from human love, from private relationship problems, children, family. One needs to learn to live in the present moment, not to regret the past and not to get lost in

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dreams of the future. If you manage to remain in this state for at least a few seconds, you will get energy to become aware of your Divine Self. And this will engender a huge flow of pure energy, enabling one to overcome any disease and problem and overflowing with huge creative potential. These are the three causes of sin that prevent us from living in harmony with God, in a state of constantly growing love and happiness. For the majority of people this state seems to be impossible; furthermore, we were never taught the difference between the Divine love and human attachment, or of the ability to love God and indeed the whole world (as the manifestation of God) completely.

6.2. How to Distinguish Attachment from Love Everybody wishes to get rid of loneliness, which causes pain, and to find happiness in private relationships. But if we get attached to someone, this leads to loneliness and sufferings. We are used to involving ourselves with some group or to uniting with some person, while seeing any others as competitors. Lust is a state of need, a want of love, a condition of hidden emptiness, which we try to fill from the outside. Love, in its turn, is a state of completeness. It is a state of a huge inner power, complete satisfaction and abundance, beyond the scope of relationship with any person. The most important question we need to ask ourselves is, “How can I give love?” instead of, “Where can I take love?” It is obvious that if we seek to give love it will certainly come to us, because in this state we perceive love as our inherent nature. In contrast, if we seek for love outside, then it will be running away from us, as we imagine it as something not belonging to us. We seek for love outside, mainly for sexual partners, but

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this desire can also include other forms of love for relatives and friends. We want to be loved, and at times even demand it, instead of seeking to give unselfish and absolute love to the world. Our personal relationships bring us so many problems only because we lack true Unselfish Love. In our relationships with loved ones, we seek for a feeling that can only be attained in our relationship with God. Nowadays, many people try to find eternal, immortal love, but relationships between people are temporary. They can become enduring only if we see the godly aspect in our partner, perceiving them as a part of God. By failing to recognize God’s existence in everything and in everybody, we cannot find satisfaction in any relationship. We are born and die all alone, and we can unite with another person, physically or spiritually, only for a few fleeting moments of life. But essentially, we are never alone. Our true self includes the consciousness of the entire Universe; we need to search inside of ourselves and find it. True connections are formed when we see the Divine source in other people and in all existence. For this we need to step outside of all outward appearances and characteristics and to establish the connection with God. But when we get too involved with somebody, we destroy their lives and our own. Too much involvement is when we grab hold of somebody and do not let either ourselves or the other person move in a natural direction. The enlightened masters, and in particular my main teacher in Ayurveda Dr. David Frawley, may give such answers to the following questions, “Why has the lamp gone out? – I have covered it from the wind with my raincoat. Why has the flower withered? – I have hungrily pressed it to my breast. Why has the stream become shallow? – I have dammed it up so it could serve me. Why

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has the harp string snapped? – I have tried to get a sound out of it that was beyond its intensity.” Interestingly, the very word happiness (in Russian “schastie”) means to be a part of God (“chast” means a part). This gives enormous bliss, whereas attachment implies something painful, and its synonym is unhappy love.

6.3. There is only One Sin Thus, we have returned to where we started: there is only one sin and only one source of all illnesses and misfortunes, namely the renunciation of unity with God and cessation of unconditional love. There is a simple test to this: if we can find love and understanding for somebody whom we dislike, this means we love God. And the less dependent on the world we are, the more we are able to give, and consequently to love. And if you live by love, everything around will derive enormous benefit, even if sometimes you act in a way that falls short of the principles and morals of your surroundings. The great poet Omar Khayyam wrote, “There are many religions, and they are all so unlike. What significance is there in faith or heresy, obedience or sin? I have chosen to love You, that is all that is necessary. All the rest is mere vanity.” Understand this, accept this, start living in conformity with it, and the issues with sins, misfortunes and illnesses will fall away automatically. For this is the highest perfection of life.

6.4. Aggression has Many Faces Aggression has many forms: resentment, dissatisfaction, complaints, anger, fears, etc. Generally speaking, if one does not live and act by the principle of absolute love, then they live by some

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kind of aggression. And the more aggression one has, the more they live out of harmony with the Universe, the more they resemble a cancerous cell, and, consequently, the stronger the countermeasures from the Universe will be regarding this person, regime, or civilization in general. Nowadays, many people are dissatisfied with something, and see the source of their problems in other people, in the circumstances, etc.; and constantly criticize somebody or something, which only worsens their situation. And the more emotional tension such people have in their thoughts or speech, the more selfdestructive energy they unleash. But does the existence of such people give us the right to bring more aggression into this world? On the other hand, the more spiritually developed one is, the more thanks he expresses. As he understands that various inner conditions create different situations and affect particular people. He understands that everything that happens to him in this world is meant only for his better good: cleansing of consciousness and development of love for God. And one of the criteria of a spiritually advanced personality is that he is never giving off complaints and criticism, but only thanks and forgiveness. It can happen that a person will accept that there is a lot of aggression in his soul, but will not be able to listen to advice regarding it. On the contrary, they will claim, “And what about others? Are they any better?” It is difficult to be near such people. This is all a consequence of their having much aggression in their aura. It is very difficult to interact with such people for any length of time, no matter how attractive they may look on the outside and how widely they may smile...

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6.5. Practical Recommendations on how to Get Free of Negative Feelings and Habits “My body tells me something, but not always am I able to understand it. Is it necessary to try and understand it? How do I get rid of damaging habits and emotions, especially anger?” It is very impressive that you listen to what your body tells you. This is very important. In modern culture it is natural to live with the radio or TV constantly switched on, with constant talking... To stay alone with yourself in silence seems too dreadful for many people, let alone to listen to your body and to follow your emotions. Even so, more and more people are coming to understand that a vain and hectic rhythm of life is not natural. By simply concentrating on the work of some body organ, simply taking care of it, we can change its condition. Similarly, by beginning to recognize our emotions and mood, we can completely get free of negative feelings and damaging habits. The emotion you are aware of disappears. For example, you come onto the stage in front of a big audience. You are nervous and scared. Simply start to describe your reality, “I’m scared, I’m sad...” And you will notice how these feelings will quickly disappear. Moreover, your sincerity will earn the appreciation of the audience. Awareness implies that you live in the here and now, in other words, in reality. Generally speaking, all problems emerge when we either become immersed in memories and regrets about the past, or begin worrying about the future. As a result, we become absent-minded and lose control over the power of attention.

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In order for you to understand the general mechanism, I will try to illustrate it by the example of anger – one of the most destructive energies. The main concept of modern Western psychology is introspection. For example, when you feel angry you start thinking about the anger, its reasons, analyzing it, thus, focusing your attention on the feeling and not on yourself. This is an intellectual process that leads to the realization that anger is bad for you. But if you decide for yourself, “I will never become angry!” and will try with your willpower to suppress anger, without deep inner changes, you will simply tuck this emotion inside, where it acts unnoticed, but is nevertheless more destructive. In contrast, Eastern psychology teaches, “Simply realize that there is no point in analyzing and thinking about anger.” Stop thinking about the source of your feelings, since it is already in the past. Neither should one give a vow, “I will never do it!” – as this promise transports us into the future. But simple awareness leaves you with the sense of anger here and now. You are not trying to fight with anger or thinking about it. You are interested only in looking at it head-on and straightforwardly. This is what we call awareness. And the power of this method is that when you look straight at the anger, it disappears! And this is the key to the problem. Once we realize anger at the very beginning, it will not contaminate us and will not leave any marks. But this may not come right away. You may catch yourself shouting at someone for quite some time. If this happens, shift to the position of inner observer; start to simply observe your sensations (your hands are shaking, your face is tense, breathing is shallow), without passing any judgment. Try to look at yourself from the side. And you will feel the anger disappearing. After a while you will learn to notice anger as soon as it arises. The same applies to everything. For example, begin being aware of your smoking, and you will soon put it off like some-

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thing unnecessary. Slowly take the pack and pull out a cigarette, ingest its smell, slowly start smoking, puff on it while consciously feeling its taste, completely experience the process. And after several weeks maximum, you will get rid of this habit forever... It is, thus, obvious that a life with awareness is the way to success. It is very important to develop the skill of how to be aware of one’s feelings, especially if they are not very intense. For this we need to focus our attention on our spiritual state rather than on the outward procedures. At the same time we should not go to the other extreme and concentrate on our body too attentively. This may strengthen the corporeal concept, “I am this body,” which in turn is the source of all our misfortunes and illnesses.

6.6. Some Advice and Food for Thought - To become the creator of one’s own fate means to become a master of one’s feelings, thoughts and speech; - Freedom is the ability to manage one’s life, which means to live by the Creator’s laws; - Permissiveness quickly leads to deterioration; - Any sensation that we perceive in a personal way, which awakens like or dislike, becomes a foundation for an emotion: fear or desire, attachment or hatred; - Attention and concentration of mind is a source of energy, but for this is necessary to live in the here and now; - Fear is always a focus on something that might possibly happen, not on what is happening at the present moment.

Step Seven How to Survive in Difficult Conditions While Becoming Happier and Wiser 7.1. A Reply to a Spiritual Warrior My friend, my tired suffering brother! Whoever you are, let your soul be strong…. S. Nadson

“A prosaic question: picture a young man who has never had any serious success in sports, who prefers church services to a beer bar, who follows fasts, reads spiritual literature and grasps the concept “the non-resistance to evil by force,” and who then gets into the “heroic” army, to the military unit where bullying, violence, humiliating treatment of subordinates by drunken officers, warrant officers with red hostile visages etc. flourish... What to do? How to survive?” First of all, please accept my sincere sympathy. It is really very difficult to live in such an atmosphere. The first thing that is important to remember is – God does not give us ordeals that are beyond our capacity. A person is able to develop rapidly only in difficult and critical situations. It is very important not to become irritated, not to despair and not to have complaints against one’s fate and surrounding people. Every situation is created only for one purpose, namely to bring us closer to God and to develop Divine love. There are only teachers around us. From an absolute point of view, there are no such categories as parents, children, neighbors or commanders. Everyone we meet in life is simply our teacher. God sends only angels to us.

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In situations such as you describe, it is really very difficult to maintain human behavior and to remain happy. But it is possible. It depends on the choice we make. You may wonder, “What is there for me to choose?” But even a paralyzed man can choose how to react to a situation. And it is particularly this choice that determines our life. This was well described and proven by Professor Viktor Frankl, who had gone through the most awful concentration camps. A military compound looks like a health resort in comparison, and officers like kind fairy godmothers. I recommend reading his works, especially where he writes about the independence of the inner being from outside circumstances. I once read about a certain priest who served his time in a Kolyma labor camp. After a 16-hour working day, he nursed the sick ones, shared his rations with them, speaking only kind words to everybody. In other words, he supported everybody in every possible way, without categorizing people into arrant killers, political prisoners, and supervisors. Many of them became religious people, as he radiated bliss and enormous love. And there are dozens of similar examples. Generally speaking, resentful people are the first to perish in such situations. All this only corroborates the ancient principle of Eastern philosophy: the more we are concentrated on ourselves, the stronger our ego is, the unhappier we are. And vice versa: the more Divine love we possess inside our soul, the more we are showered with blissfulness. Yes, we experience difficulties. But we can always find those who have it worse and start helping them with words and deeds. Do we need to choose despair, grievance, and contempt, when we can choose to see God’s will behind everything, and to radiate humor, optimism, to express forgiveness and sympathy towards others, etc.? In other words, we need to become the sun that gives

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light to everyone, without depending on anything, and then the atmosphere around us will utterly change. True bliss comes when we give. This is how the Universe is made up, and no circumstances can ever deprive us of it. We can always find somebody whose situation is more difficult. And if we cannot help them materially, we can always send our love; say a kind word; share the sum of our knowledge, etc. If we begin to abide by this, in a very short time we will notice how wonderfully it works. And then we will start receiving questions, not from a depressed soldier, but from a blissful spiritual fighter, who has dedicated his life to God’s service. And he understands that success in this service is measured not by the number of times he has visited a church ceremony, not by the quantity of spiritual literature he has read (although, of course, this is also important), but by how many living things he has helped become happy, and most importantly, how much unconditional love he has brought into this world. I wish you success!

7.2. A Spiritual Warrior’s Philosophy 1. The more aggression a person has inside, the more humiliation, emotional abuse and violence it attracts, if one is in a subordinate situation; if he becomes in charge of even a small unit, he may actively start to humiliate and emotionally abuse his subordinates. 2. The level of aggression depends on the quantity of attachments one has in this world. How much a person is dependent on temporary things, ideals, and this world in general can be easily seen by the extent of one’s fear, envy, grievances, dejection, criticism...

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3. Therefore, the best defense is good nature, especially at a moment of humiliation. If, however, in a moment of humiliation, such feelings as hatred, grievance and fear grow, then it will attract further painful situations, and at some point a desire to destroy everybody, and sometimes oneself, will surface. 4. At the outside level it is important to take certain steps: to apply to law enforcement agencies, community organizations, to write articles. The more harmonious you will be, the more successfully you will be able to defend yourself at the outside level. 5. The Army is not a children’s ballet school. Its function is protection. That is why it is hard to imagine it functioning well without harshness. But in the army one can learn many important qualities for a man: courage, resolution, ability to overcome difficulties, ability to follow a daily regimen, ability to retain human qualities under any circumstances (especially relevant to some units of the Russian army), etc. A wise person can always learn something anywhere and everywhere.

7.3. A Real-Life Story A year ago I conducted seminars at one of the Black Sea festivals. There I was introduced to a soldier I had heard about before. Before the Army he had tried and learned to live a spiritual life, studied many philosophical works, studied Ayurveda, and as a result of this became a very harmonious person. Before the military conscription he had prayed and said: “Wherever God will send me, I will go.” He happened to serve in a typical Russian military unit. During the course of a few months, he had gained the respect of everyone for his kind temper. Even the commanding officers began to pay heed to his philosophical views on the world. Soon

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he was transferred to serve in the main office and was given a separate room. Furthermore, the unit commander proclaimed before the lineup that such people as him should be taken care of. This sincerely amazed everyone, as he had hitherto never been considered a spiritual and considerate man. And this is not the only example I know.

Step Eight Understanding the Meaning of Illness, and Ways to Overcome It We may want it or not, but diseases, sufferings, physical and psychological pain are natural attributes of the soul’s existence in the material world. A person is born with pain and, as a rule, dies with pain. And during the course of our life we face it almost every day. As soon as a soul gets covered with a gross and subtle body, the sufferings begin, and the more we associate ourselves with matter, the more severe our sufferings will be. But if you know some principles of the Universe, you can significantly reduce the number of diseases and sufferings. Moreover, if we know why we suffer or for what purpose, the pain is significantly lessened. For example, a woman giving birth to a baby, who loves and wants to have children, may possibly take no notice of the pain accompanying the birth process, and, of course, this pain will not make her change her decision to continue having children. In this chapter we will try to look at the crux of this problem by the example of a certain individual.

8.1. A Disease is a Lesson “I have a very serious stomach disorder. I have to exclude many products from my diet, and I do not come to visit my friends because I don’t want to show that I’m ill. It is very hard and I don’t know what to do. The doctors cannot help, they only prescribe very expensive medicines and are always running tests. I don’t know where to get treatment, in America or Israel. I don’t know

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why I’m writing to you, as you are not a doctor. But it is so painful and I don’t believe that doctors will find the proper medicine any more. What is the purpose of this and other diseases in general? What do I personally need to understand in connection with the constant physical pain?” First of all, I would like to tell you that I sincerely sympathize with you. A serious disease is always a difficult lesson, and in many ways an unpleasant one. At the same time, I would like to explain to you something important, that may really help you, especially if you listen to it well and act upon it. You need to understand that a disease is a lesson. The Universe helps us to understand that we have some disharmonious thoughts and habits, which disturb the balance in our organism and our balance with regard to the nature in general. If we perceive the world as a strictly material object, then we consider diseases, misfortunes, grievances, etc., as something categorically bad. Consequently, it should be destroyed: a microbe provoking a disease, a person who hurt you and caused you misfortunes, if not physically then emotionally or mentally. But if it does not work, we take offence at the whole world and completely become self-absorbed, giving the world a telling and contemptuous silence. Unfortunately, when we have such mentality we may get rid of the problems on the physical level for some time, but as they remain on the deeper internal level, sooner or later they will come up again. Only the next blow and lesson will be harder and far more painful. The modern medicine may help on the lowest, material level. The real healers, who are very few, can help at the subtle level, and consequently, their help can be more effective. But if, at the same time, one does not work on oneself, on the outlook and character, and continues to live driven by feelings and emotions, satisfying the ego, then after a while this help will turn into a curse,

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in a form of a far more serious illness, a greater loss of something. Ayurvedic doctors were forbidden to help patients if they were not ready to work on themselves. “One must not help a person more than they are ready to help themselves.” But modern civilization, aptly called “the consumer society”, rejects these values and prefers to invest millions into production of new chemical drugs, new devices. If you open any newspaper you will see dozens of advertisements for fortunetellers, magicians, healers, etc., all of which claim to have the inherited ability to cure any illness, and if you buy an amulet charged by their gift, you will completely forget about any problems. And the principle of all these groups is, “Nothing depends on you, just come to us, give yourself up to us, pay us and we will cure you.” And some do help at the beginning. But if you look at the picture in general, you will see that new diseases take the place of the defeated ones, and the new ones are much more serious and incurable; chemical drugs become more harmful and have more side effects, though they help less and less. You have not yet managed to remove one curse, one disease for a substantial sum and already new ones appear instead... Healers, having made their fortune, take a “well-deserved” rest. Just a few days ago I made a consultation for a woman in Canada. This lady worked as an extrasensory healer in Israel for many years. She is a very rich woman, but she possesses a mass of various problems and illnesses. But, unfortunately, many people, even understanding all this, do not want to change anything, as it is easier for them to lay out their last money for a treatment than to forgive their neighbor, let alone to make deep serious changes to their ideology and character.

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But until we take responsibility for our lives, until we understand that everything that happens to us is the result of our thoughts, behavior, habits and a reflection of our character and attitude, no serious change in our lives can ever happen. Unfortunately, there are some definite principles in this world and if we do not accept them, we condemn ourselves to a series of difficult incarnations, which continue until we understand that the devilish principle, tightly entrenched as it is in the minds of modern people, is wrong and very dangerous. It asserts that we are a composition of chemical elements with an incomprehensibly developed consciousness, and our main goal is to snatch up as much sensual gratification as possible, that one can become happy by using and exploiting other people and nature in general. The entire surroundings but myself is to blame for all my misfortunes and diseases. And even if many people do turn to some religion or join a religious sect, it is only in order to suppress an inexplicable depression and solicit God for new material comforts, for recovery from diseases in order to continue giving pleasure to their indefatigable senses and mind. But the true reality is different: we are eternal souls who can never be satisfied with anything material. For the soul’s nature is to love and selflessly serve the world, and correspondingly God. We cannot live without love. The more love we give away, the more we receive in return. And this is called Ananda – blissfulness. We are pieces of the one united Whole. When we understand this and live by it, we are in complete harmony with the Universe, which generously bestows us with various gifts. If a person, who is incarnated in this world into various bodies, intensively develops egocentricity and a feeling of alienation from other living things, their thoughts and behavior will become more and more based on envy, greed, aggression and lust. In so

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doing they become more and more disharmonious, selfish, and envious, more and more resembling a cancerous cell on the body of the Universe. And the Universe switches on defensive mechanisms to save itself, this straying soul, and sometimes civilization in general. Everything begins from grievances; if a person does not learn to accept them internally, then they will be followed by betrayal, and if the person does not overcome that either, then it will be followed by illnesses and strokes of misfortune. And the more egoism one has, the heavier these blows are…. So, if there is even one person that we cannot forgive, then the next steps will soon follow... I heard this assertion from a well-known Ayurvedic doctor, that if there is even one person that we cannot forgive – we cannot be healthy. I hope I have not tired you with this philosophy. But it is very important for you to understand that an illness is a consequence of improper attitude and behavior. As this is the only way to recovery, especially in your case. You write that I am not a doctor. And in the modern sense of this word this is true. But my birth chart says that my destiny in this life is to teach and to treat others. The word “doctor” originates from the word doctrine, that is to say, a principle. It is exactly the ideas, the principles people have, that determine the same illnesses that they will have (or will not have), and correspondingly their fate. And a doctor is the one who gives the right doctrine, the right outlook to his patients. There is an opinion that the word doctor (in Russian “vrach”) originates from the Russian word “vrat’” (to lie), which in the old language meant simply “to speak”. In the advanced civilizations of the past, doctors merely had to tell their patients what

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they needed to change in their behavior, lifestyle, diet, and most importantly their character, and if a person followed those recommendations, they would recover. Now, in regards to your case: apart from understanding and accepting the abovementioned principles, you need to stop passing severe judgment on anybody and anything. Not only in speech, but even in thought. Accept this obvious fact – every person goes by their own way. If we think that people make mistakes, we can explain our view of the situation to them and inspire them to change, but only on condition that they are ready and willing to listen to us. Even God does not judge people until they die. Therefore, you need to accept everything with love. And your body will again accept food without any pain. A pain is always some form of antagonism and unconscious opposition towards the situation in which one is placed. The greater the pain, the greater is the antagonism. Your second karmic task is to learn patience and to free yourself of despondency. Ayurveda teaches that Dhairya (patience) is one of the main cures for subtle body. There are three limiting factors bringing sufferings in this world: first of all, Adhiatmika, our own mind (wit works woe) and physical body; the second is Adhidaivika, which refers to environmental calamities and climate (natural disasters, droughts); and the third one Adhibhautika, which is other living things: mosquitoes, snakes, dogs, etc., but most importantly people, as an evil man is considered more dangerous than any wild animal. And Ayurveda states that we need to treat everyone and everything with love and patience. This brings peace of mind, and such feelings as anger, fear and worry stop bothering us. And until you learn the above-described qualities, no modern doctor will be able to significantly help you,

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neither in Israel, nor in the USA. At best the treatment will only bring a temporary relief. I have received many people who, having understood their inner problems and accepted advice on how to change, managed to shake off serious illnesses in a matter of a few weeks and achieved harmony. Join this list and fill your life with health and happiness!

8.2. Six Stages of a Disease The question we need to ask ourselves when we have fallen ill or gotten into trouble, “Why have I been put into this situation? What does the Universe want to explain to me, to teach me?” Instead the question regularly brought up among modern people is, “Why did I, such a good person, receive this?” which, moreover, is often asked with such emotional resentment as if the person was sure that for at least their last ten lives they had been a shining example even for the most righteous people... The root of all diseases lies in the psychological field. The Ashtanga Hridaya Samhita (one of the basic tractates of Ayurveda) speaks of six stages in illness. These are: 1. Psychic (wrong outlook, domination of qualities (gunas) of passion and ignorance, disharmonious thoughts). 2. Ethereal (imbalance of the informational and energy channels). 3. Neuro-endocrinal (imbalance of doshas). (In Ayurveda dosha means a biological basis). 4. Toxic (accumulation in the organism of incomplete metabolism products and dross). 5. Visible (appearance of clinic symptoms of the disease).

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6. Terminal (destruction of the affected organ). Having said that, it is known that the first two stages of a disease can easily be cured, the third and fourth can be influenced, the fifth is very difficult to cure, and the sixth is inaccessible for therapy. Modern medicine as a rule begins working at the fifth level. I remember how I was astonished to learn that in ancient India, and later in China, it was quite an exceptional case if someone were to fall ill in a village or a town. It was a big disgrace for the doctor. How could he have let it happen? Back then the responsibility of a doctor was to regularly visit their patients and simply... talk to them. They would discuss philosophical subjects, about the meaning of life, supreme harmony, godly love, the temporary nature of everything in this world, etc., and also they would advise on lifestyle, how to balance diet in conformity with the body’s individual constitution, how to improve communication, etc.

8.3. Causes of Illness The main reasons of all diseases and misfortunes can be reduced to the three basic causes: 1. Failure to understand one’s goal, the meaning and destiny of one’s life (Dharma). 2. Failure to understand and to comply with the principles of the Universe. In Ayurveda it is called Pragya Aparadha, which can be translated as a crime against one’s own natural wisdom, or lack of wisdom. 3. Existence of destructive thoughts, feelings and emotions in the subconscious and conscious mind, such as envy, greed, aggression, arrogance, despondency, etc. In Ayurveda these are called “perversities of mind”.

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8.4. Theories of Modern Medicine 1. A person exists separately from the surrounding environment. Since the times of Descartes and Newton materialism has governed. According to the modern perception of the world, we live in a Universe that exists independently from us. Despite the fact that the classic theories of physics and chemistry that laid the foundations of the development of scientific medicine a long time ago were completely swept away by the works of Einstein and his contemporaries, modern medicine remains true to the views of Newton and Descartes. Moreover, the idea that the world consists of objects independent from a person’s consciousness contradicts the theory of wave mechanics and the observed facts. 2. Preservation of health is a fight of doctors (!) for patient wellness. Modern medicine spends over 99% of finances and time on treatment of an existing disease, and less then 1% on preventive medicine... 3. In order for a doctor to be able to help a patient they need to make a diagnosis, that is to classify a disease, and then to prescribe the means of fighting it, which, as a rule, involves some chemical preparation. 4. Diseases are enemies that prevent us from deriving pleasure. It is necessary to always devise ways of overcoming them. A constant progress is necessary. Progress in medicine signifies the creation of more advanced means to fight diseases; these chiefly consist of chemical remedies, various instruments and the like.

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8.5. Basic Principles on the Way to Recovery 1. Our relationship with the Universe is the same as that of a cell and an organism. We do not live independently from the world around us; we are part of it. 2. A human organism is a system where everything is interconnected, a self-regulating system. What is necessary is not to cure the external aspects of imbalance in an organism, namely the illness, by consuming multiple medicines, which in their turn suppress the organism’s ability to selfregulate (the immune system), but, on the contrary, it is necessary to reinforce this system. Because an illness is a violation of the organism’s wholesomeness, a systematic approach should be used to eliminate this separate disorder. An ancient Japanese doctor, Kan Funayama, said, “If you do not think that a person is an indivisible whole, then your way to success is closed.” 3. Health is the balance between our way of existence and the surrounding world. It is a harmony with oneself and the surrounding environment. Health depends on a balance between the opposite forces in an organism: acid and alkalis, warmth and cold, absorption and elimination, etc. (a balance of doshas). The basic principle of life is maintenance of homeostasis, or dynamic balance. Every organ strives for homeostasis. A healthy organism is where there is homeostasis. 4. Falling ill is a sign of imbalance. We need to be attentive to the signals of our body. A disease is an outside manifestation of our thoughts and behavior. There are only two kinds of diseases that we bring from our previous life in the form of karma: genetic (karmic) diseases or some

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certain kinds of traumas. Whatever else we receive, we incur in this present life. A disease is a signal of our unconscious awareness that we are doing something wrong, that our behavior and our reactions to events are harmful for us. This is our protection from some of our damaging behavior. The Universe is telling us that we are turning away from our Path. Though alternatively, an illness is sometimes part of that Path. 5. We can influence our thoughts, emotions, and behavior. And thus we can influence our energy and physical bodies, and also influence the world around us. 6. We ourselves destroy balance and create diseases by our actions, thoughts, and emotions, at the core of which is an improper outlook. 7. By falling ill, the balance broken by us can be restored. A disease is a display of the healing powers of nature. Ayurveda recommends moderation in everything in order to avoid diseases: moderately work, moderately rest. It is necessary to pay attention to one’s diet, to do physical exercises, to breathe fresh air, to have a good night’s sleep. 8. An organism itself strives to restore its broken balance. Recovery is an innate process. In certain cases we might need external help if we are heavily imbalanced. 9. A doctor’s task is to help the healing powers of nature to restore the balance. A doctor’s task is to teach a person to be healthy. 10. We need to understand why a particular illness has come to us, what disharmony in the body it indicates. What has provoked this imbalance? Food? Thoughts? Behavior? Daily schedule?

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In order to really alter one’s wellbeing, to begin really changing in all respects, we need to accept responsibility for our life, for our diseases. This means we should not lay the blame on anybody for our diseases, neither doctors nor dear ones. It is likewise dangerous to blame ourselves. We must also desist from all complaints towards anybody. 11. The highest display of harmony is love to God. The world renowned professor, Dr. Max Luscher, wrote, “My experience, accumulated from decades of theoretical and practical research, has proved what I have always believed: the true meaning of all worthwhile behavior is harmony.” He expressed the concept of love as harmony, and he saw the highest demonstration of harmony in the first commandment of the Gospel of St. Mark: to love God. All enlightened healers and sages the world over have always thought the same. Of course, we should not be extreme and reject the genuine achievements of modern medicine, especially the help of dentists, surgeons, and other doctors during the treatment of infectious diseases. But a consumer outlook and greed for gain are slowly bringing to naught the achievements in this sphere. It is necessary to remember that our harmonious way of life can minimize the visits to modern doctors, consumption of chemical remedies, and spending time in hospital.

8.6. Food for Thought 1. According to longstanding research of the American National Institute of Health, in 75% of cases they have studied, the health of people directly depended on their belief in God.

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2. The real decline in the mortality rate was observed only in 1976 in Los Angeles and in 1973 in Israel, when doctors declared a strike. 3. An analysis of factors shows that infectious diseases could be controlled not so much due to the intervention of medicine, but due to an economic development, which had improved the living conditions of people and the level of personal hygiene. 4. According to world statistics and data by the World Health Organization, human health depends on medicine by approximately 10%, by 15% on heredity, and the rest depends on the person himself.

Step Nine Your Life Begins After you Overcome the Fear of Death Do not be afraid of death, whether you are seventeen or seventy... A. Tarkovsky

9.1. A Few Words from Myself This chapter affects all people. We have hardly met a person who has not had difficult, tragic events in their life: serious illness, death of loved ones, material loss, etc. Generally speaking, a person is born every day for a new life and dies every evening. A philosophical translation of the word death connotes a loss, an end of something that has “lived itself out.” For example, we can say: “Their relationship has died,” “He is dead to me”, implying that some relationship, some period of life, has finished for us. And our current and next lives depend on how we bear it. As a rule, there are two possibilities here: a person can either become wiser and rise to a new spiritual level (one experience lived is worth two that are still to come), or can choose to not accept the situation and feel despondency, pessimism, grievances, etc. In the last case they quickly deteriorate on all levels: physical, mental, and spiritual. (“The tragedy has broken him...”) At such critical cases the challenge must be faced head-on: drastic progress or deterioration. Although, understanding the word tragedy depends a lot on the level of spiritual development, on the level of a person’s egoism. For some people a loss of a small sum of money is a tragedy. Others may have a heart attack when they hear unpleasant words 149

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directed towards them. Some will think that the world is falling to pieces because the dogmas and ideals on which they have been building their life turned out to be a complete nonsense. The more people identify themselves with their body, with this mortal world, and have attachments, the more they will suffer from different kinds of tragedies. Generally speaking, a life of such a person is one long tragedy. It is important to remember that God does not give us ordeals that are beyond our capacity. We just need to be prepared to them and know the ways to overcome them. Success may often spoil a person, whereas hardships are the best teacher. I myself have gone through a number of very difficult ordeals. All these events have had a great influence on me, my personal growth, my mindset and behavior.

9.2. Who Said that We Need to be Afraid of Death? “Our race has been hit by one stroke of misfortune after another. Widowhood has become a common occurrence. I was not able to have children for many years, and when I did give birth, it was with great difficulty. But immediately after the birth, the head of the family died. Why do we go through this? What do we need to understand? I am stressed, and I need to raise the baby.” First of all, please accept my sincere sympathy. No matter how philosophically we perceive and accept life, the loss of a dear one is one of the harshest lessons of fate. I intentionally refrained from answering you straight away, as so close after tragedy a person, as a rule, needs emotional support instead of instructions, no matter how clever they are.

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The fact that you are under stress is normal. Stress is logical when soon after an unexpected misfortune, as thanks to the stress, biological processes in an organism change, the mind starts working more clearly (or alternatively, it may shut off completely if the person is utterly engulfed by grief), the organism applies all its reserves. Many cases have been known when people worked miracles in this state: lifted a huge weight, scaled a high fence, etc. But if stress becomes lingering, it can destroy any health, any fortune. And the basic cause of stress is a fear or a direct experience of loss: loss of money, status, health, failure of ideals, etc. But the biggest fear is the fear of death, as death brings the loss of everything. According to modern psychological research, the fear of death is one of the chief fears of modern people: the fear of one’s own death, in the first place, and also deaths of one’s nearest and dearest. We have analyzed many times how fear is the main enemy of love, that truly spiritual people are fearless, as they understand that they are an eternal soul, and not a temporary material body. Everything concerning the body, all relationships and the world in general, are only temporary, and there is no sense in getting too attached to anything or anyone in this world, where everything is constantly changing. Also, they understand that the most important thing is inner piece and living by absolute love, as love is bliss. Only ego can deprive us of this blissfulness and peace, ego that always feels fear, envy and grievances, and brings tension and avarice into our life, etc. Let us try to analyze the fear of death. A taboo has been inflicted on this subject in our society. But this makes us resemble an ostrich, which tries to escape the problems by hiding its head in the sand. And thus we only reinforce the problem. It is much

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more useful to realize that death is as natural as birth, that every one of us will die at the appointed time, whether it is in a few minutes or after many decades. And by accepting this fact, we will stop crippling our mind and driving the fear into our unconscious, and our behavior will change for the better. There was an experiment run in a famous American university. The students were told, “Imagine that you will die in half of a year.” This group’s behavior changed a lot; these students became politer, sincerer and kinder. Later many of the students recalled the experiment very warmly, saying that thanks to it they had reflected on higher values, become happier and achieved more in life. Buddha would say, “Those who have truly realized that we all will soon perish, immediately stop quarrels.” Unfortunately, in our pragmatic century many people try to exploit even this. Many modern sects intimidate by constantly announcing the end of the world (the date of which is always changing) so as to increase their congregation and collect huge donations. “In Mahabharata (an ancient Indian epic) there is an interesting parable about a great righteous king who came to a stream and saw his dead brothers there. Suddenly he heard a voice from above that told him that if he did not answer the question, “What is the most wondrous thing in this world?” – He would die too. To this the king answered without hesitation, “The most wondrous thing in this world is that we can see death every day, all our relatives can die, but, nevertheless, we will imagine that we ourselves will never die; this is precisely what I consider the most wondrous thing in the world, that people think and behave as if they will never die.” At this the divine voice declared, “You are indeed wise and have answered correctly.” But why do people refuse to believe that they will die? The thing is, deep inside our soul we know that we are eternal, that we have nothing in common with this temporary illusory world.

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The soul literally cries, “Stop identifying yourself with this sack of muscle and bone, stop living by the dog-eat-dog laws of this world, stop disavowing love at every step, as only love and service to God can bring the blissfulness that you are striving for so much.” But we, having lived many lives in this world, are identifying ourselves with our immediate body more and more; we increasingly get sucked into the vanities of this world; we become twisted, and our consciousness gets sullied by greed, anger, lust and envy. And instead of the awareness that “I am an eternal soul, a part of God”, such concepts as “I am this body, a part of this temporary world” begin to dominate. And together with this we develop a desire to make everything “eternal” around us. “Swear eternal love to me,” “I want to earn money so as not to ever (eternally) lack anything”, etc., as we refuse to accept this obvious truth: everything in this world is temporary: houses, relationships, civilization, climate, moral and religious dogmas, etc. Our consciousness is getting more and more covered by the ignorance and saturated by fear, this awful enemy of love. We are beginning to be always afraid of losses, which are not at all rare in this world, but a natural and necessary attribute. Moreover, it is often arranged by the Universe in such a way that during this life we lose whatever we are attached to most of all, from what (or whom) we have made an idol. Generally speaking, problems arise when we begin to think that happiness lies outside of ourselves: with some person, work, or home; and when something happens to this object – it seems to us that we are deprived of happiness. For example, a woman thinks that her happiness is her husband. She may even call him, “My happiness.” And if this man makes a decision to leave the family, then she starts to wail, “Where are you going, my happiness?”

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I consciously go into this profound philosophy. Generally speaking, until a person realizes it, understands the principles of this world, they will not be able to go through any serious situation in the right spirit. At the very best, a person will use psychological techniques, vigorous activity, or alcohol in order to numb the pain, to move over, to forget about it. But if you have not gone through, not accepted, not realized this situation on the deepest level, if you still have complaints and hard feelings, for example, “Why have you sent this to me, God?”, then all the negativity goes to the unconscious level. And the person may suddenly grow old, become seriously ill or attract a new serious disease. If a person goes through the severe deals of fate in the right way (they have actually attracted those blows by their thoughts and behavior, thus these experiences are the best lessons for them), then the person becomes wise, placid and loving, rises to a much higher level, and their fate dramatically changes. On the external level a person might cry and grieve for some time. But this is normal, as we are living things and we have feelings, and it is very dangerous to suppress feelings and emotions. The right way of enduring the situation is when one realizes the given truths stated above, and consequently sees the real picture of the world and accepts any situation as the Almighty’s grace. Then one will not have grievances nor feel despair (by the way, acedia (despair, sloth) is one of the cardinal sins in Christianity). In the case under review it is very important to understand this, as women in this race tend to idolize life, have a huge fear of death; they idolize and become dependent on those who support them (a husband, a father). They completely lack love in their souls, and instead of love there is only strong attachment, which kills on the mental plane as strongly as fierce hate. That is why in your race men do not live past 45 years old, and also why you had

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serious problems with childbearing. The fate of your child will also largely depend on your ability to solve this karmic challenge. So, instead of grieving, despairing and crying, you need to start working on yourself. By the way, your despair and grief send a big blast of negative energy to the souls of the dead people, thereby causing them lots of suffering.

9.3. Practical Recommendations to those who have Gone Through or are Facing Serious Stress 1. To always be occupied with something, not to stay alone with your thoughts even for a minute. 2. To make yourself walk straight (not to stoop) and smile more often, or at least avoid a long face expression. 3. Never use in your speech words that demonstrate pessimism, fear, or pity; just the opposite, you need to repeat spiritual sentiments (God has love for everything; everything passes away and this will too), prayers, mantras or, at least, hum favorite melodies. 4. To spend more time with nature, in the fresh air, especially on sunny days. 5. Different physical exercises (especially swimming, jogging, skating, fast walking) and yoga are necessary as ever. 6. Learn to perceive God in everything that happens in your life, and trust Him and the very process of life itself. A sincere prayer helps a lot for this. Reflect more often on the passing nature of everything in this world. At the same time, read more historical literature. This helps one to feel

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how all that happens is temporary, no matter how much certain people or civilizations have achieved, how interesting they have lived, as eventually they all had to die and disappear from the face of the earth. 7. Read scientific literature about reincarnation of souls, near-death experinces, hypnotic regression, séances, recalling by children of previous lives. 8. Remember how many people in the world are suffering or have suffered in wars or natural disasters, having lost everything and everybody. This will help us see how relative our grief is. 9. Ponder whether those who have gone to the other world would like to hear your groans and wails. Imagine that you went to another country to study, but you constantly get messages saying that your relatives are deeply depressed by their separation from you. How would you feel?

9.4. The Soul never Dies. We are Eternal “The last two years were a very uneasy period in my life, many changes, and recently I experienced a great misfortune – the death of my mother, who was my closest and dearest person. What is my karmic goal? I know that everything is in God’s hands, and I will try to accept with love and understanding any fate that is prepared for me. But I am turning over a new leaf in life and would not like to tarnish it.” You are in the middle of a big period of changes, and it will last until October. This period will touch almost all spheres of your life. And what is most important, these changes will take place on the psychological and spiritual levels, which is the basis of all changes. And whatever we have inside, the same we will receive in the external life. Although, generally speaking, these changes

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themselves are very favorable for you, the time of change itself is always very difficult. But we can also grow only as a result of difficulties. Success in life ultimately depends on a person’s fearlessness in the face of difficulty and on how they are able to endure them. I would like to touch upon the subject of death, the loss of a loved one. It is important for you to get to the bottom of it, as until you internally accept your mother’s death and let her go, your life may never adjust. You need to fully understand the following deep philosophical truths. We are an eternal soul that goes through periodic incarnations, in conformity with its karma and desire in a particular family, nation and country. A soul creates its karma by thinking and behaving in a certain way. Karma is the consequences of these thoughts and behavior; it comes to us as a result of some definite consequences, and it may be pleasant or not, depending on our previous deeds. By the word karma people often mean fate. Thus, a soul goes from one body to another in conformity with karmic reactions. It might get born into a wealthy prosperous family and have a healthy handsome body, and it might be the opposite. Thus, a soul may happen to be on the crest of a wave of material energy and enjoy the material, only to afterwards find itself at the bottom and suffer. The entire material world lives by rhythms; there is nothing here that is constant. But sufferings predominate in this world. For even if a person has attained the highest status, they will lose it some day, moreover, in this world they will have to deal with old age, illness, death, and finally get born again. Sufferings may also come from other living things, natural disasters, and our own mind and physical body. The more selfish one is, the more one suffers. And the purpose of this Divine drama is to help a soul cleanse its being, reestablish its relationship with God, which are based on absolute love and a spirit of service.

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A great master of Eastern psychology, Swami Vishnu-Devananda wrote, “The great philosophers, prophets and religious leaders agree that a clear understanding of the connection between man, God and the Universe is the only way to avoid the fear of death, and in a spiritual sense of the word – to avoid death itself. When a person realizes that an eternal soul is identical to the Supernal Soul or God, what is death or fear then? One of the main subjects of Vedanta is striving for the unity of an individual soul with the Universal, or God. Once this unity is reached, there is no fear or death left.”

9.5. Tears are a Display of Pity for Ourselves In light of the above it is obvious that a soul does not die when the body perishes. But why do we cry at funerals? We are sorry for ourselves... Tears are a demonstration of pity for ourselves. We wail, “Whom did you leave me for?” but, first of all, we must remember that nobody left anybody. The body is lying right here. Although, truth to tell, the soul has already left it. When a soul leaves a body, it begins to decompose... And the more we have been attached to this personality, the louder we cry. In general, it is natural to mourn over separation. But deep depressions, losing the meaning of life, aggression and grievances against God and people, are very dangerous emotions, capable of destroying us and postponing the further movement of the soul that has already left the body. Unfortunately, we were not taught in our childhood how to become an integrated personality, how to be happy and successful without becoming dependent on outside circumstances. And all the more we were not taught the true profound spiritual knowledge. At best we were taught the rules of the earthly mor-

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als and the performance of some religious rituals. And we have grown up used to looking for happiness everywhere and in everything, except for inside ourselves. We are used to structuring our life in such a way as to snatch as much as possible from the world. And to the question of where our happiness is, we confidently answer – in our work, in our relatives, in our food, in following religious rituals, etc. But when something happens to the source of our happiness, it seems to us that the world is breaking apart. And it is obvious that we do not accept death at all. The proper way to go through the death of a loved one is expressed by complete acceptance of this as the Divine Will, and in performing all the religious ceremonies for the departed personality’s sake. When visiting a cemetery, we should give serious consideration to the fact that sooner or later we will have to go through our own funeral ceremony. If we truly realize this, our life will suddenly change for the better. To understand this is one of your karmic goals.

9.6. The Best Gift for ... the Dead 1. The best help and support for our relatives is our spiritual growth. Through energy we remain connected to those who have previously died. The stronger our attachment is, the stronger the connection is. They can get support from us, and their karma can even change for the better, if we live harmoniously. The Vedas say that when one has reached enlightenment and lives by Divine love, then seven generations before and after him attain freedom. If we, instead of living by love, choose the way of sin, live by despair, anger, and envy, then we bring lots of suffering and pain to our departed relatives, and their state after leaving the body, or their fate in their subsequent lives, may even worsen.

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It is written that we can only change our karma while we are still in a physical body, and as soon as we leave it, we can only reap the fruits of what we have deserved. And in this case the souls greatly depend on their relatives and near ones who remain on earth, as only they can rectify and improve their state once they have left the physical body. In all developed civilizations of the past there was an understanding that it is important to have spiritually advanced children, especially sons, because after their death they could perform expurgatory ceremonies and save them from a negative karma. 2. In many cultures, even modern, the knowledge exists that sorrow and grief cause much pain to the departed; that is why funerals pass in a celebratory mood – everybody is joyful and has a great time. It may not suit every situation or all people, but there is something in it. We always have a choice to make a tragedy or a comedy out of our life. Once an old monk was asked how he managed to be always so happy and joyful. To this he answered, “I know that we ourselves can turn our lives into paradise or hell, choose to be happy or unhappy. Every morning I come up to the mirror and ask myself – where I will go today: to paradise or hell? What will I be today: joyful and cheerful, or gloomy and dissatisfied? Every morning I choose to go to paradise.”

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9.7. Death is a Curse Only in Case of Suicide Death brings definite tragic consequences solely in case of suicide. Even a mere reflection on the subject, or, Heaven forbid, planning of this crime against the Universe, has a destroying influence on the psyche and worsens one’s karma. One who has committed it becomes a spiritual criminal. Picture a warrior in the midst of a serious battle, who gives up everything, claiming that he is tired, afraid, or lazy, and he deserts. In any society such a man deserves punishment and condemnation. In the same way, a person who has committed suicide is condemned for the most severe forms of existence and becomes a curse for their relatives for a long time. For example, let us say that a person is destined to live up to 78 years old, but commits suicide at 30. Thus, for the remaining 48 years they will be wandering with the energy of an angry and unsatisfied ghost, and bring misfortune to those whom they were attached to during their life. And they will pass the next few incarnations in hellish forms of life.

9.8. Some Methods of Neutralizing the Effect of Suicide If any of your relatives has punished you in this way, then it is very important for you to practice a spiritual life with a religious implication – regularly visit holy sites or places of worship. At home you must keep the Holy Scriptures (Bible, Koran, Torah, Bhagavad-Gita) and religious attributes, pictures. It is desirable to have a candle burning, prayers and mantras sung as often as possible. It is desirable to always wear some religious attribute such as a prayer book, a cross, rosary beads, Tulsi beads.

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It is necessary to sincerely ask God to forgive this person. And to donate something in his name on his birthday, or best of all on the anniversary of his suicide, for building of places of worship, for distribution of true knowledge. It is desirable to cremate this person’s body and to get rid of all his things, or to burn them too. It is extremely desirable to move away from the apartment where the unhappy one lived, especially if this mishap happened there...

9.9. The Almighty Understanding. A Parable A woman came to see Buddha. Her baby had died and she stood crying. Her husband had died long ago, and the baby had been her only joy, her love, her life. Buddha smiled at her softly and said: “Go into town and ask for a few mustard seeds in a house where nobody has ever died. Then you will return to me and I will help you.” The woman left. She entered every house. But wherever she came she was told, “We can give you as many mustard seeds as you wish, but in our house many people have died.” In this fashion she walked for a full day. She was told that such a house did not exist, but she did not lose her hope. Towards the evening, a great understanding came upon her. She realized that death is a fact of life, and not something unique to her. With this understanding she came back to Buddha. He asked: “Where are those mustard seeds?” She smiled and said: “Instruct me, so that I can know what it is that never dies.”

Step Ten Our Speech as a Basis and Indication of Perfection “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... And the Word became the flesh.” The Gospel of John, 1:1; 1:14

10.1. We Live the Way we Speak Buddhist psychology states that the main cause for loss of energy is our speech. Christianity teaches, “It is not as important what comes into your mouth as much as what goes out.” Some individuals may use this instruction to justify their mode of diet that resembles that of a swine, “Eat whatever you want or see,” while ignoring the second part of this statement. Many ascetics and saints went away to lonely places in order to avoid idle talking. According to the Vedas, idle talk is called “prajalpa.” And precisely this is a main obstacle in the way of spiritual and material development. We initially judge a person by the way they speak. Speech identifies personality. Practically any person interested in yoga and Eastern psychology and philosophy is familiar with the name of the sage Patanjali and his monumental work, the Yoga Sutras. But it is not very well known that he also wrote works no less outstanding devoted to speech and medicine: “Mahabhasya” and “Charaka.” “Mahabhasya,” which complements the grammar of Panini, teaches how to speak and how to build one’s speech correctly. There is a strong relation between the mind and speech, the mind and the body, the mind and the soul. A healthy body, a healthy mind and healthy

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speech create a harmonious personality. Modern research shows that speech defects are not accidental. They have a deep connection with mental development. Stuttering and stammering while speaking is caused by deep emotional deviation. Almost all diseases are psychosomatic by nature. Every person striving for perfection must become, firstly, a doctor healing their own body; secondly, an expert in grammar taking care of their own speech; and thirdly, a philosopher cleansing their consciousness and perceiving the Absolute truth. The life of such a person is free from physical diseases, apathy to self-development, and incoherent speech. The sage Patanjali called such a person a yogi. It does not matter what kind of yoga or spiritual practice one employs, all the above can be totally applied to him.

10.2. Our Health and Material Wellbeing Depend on our Speech This does not only refer to spiritual people, but also to anyone wanting to receive material success. All business schools give extensive training in speaking and listening skills. Even in the criminal world one needs to be able to control their tongue in order to move up through the unlawful hierarchy. Thus, the Buddha’s note is fully realized and referred to, that a word can kill a man. Three minutes of anger can destroy ten years of friendship. Words greatly determine our karma. It is possible to devote ten years to spiritual practice and charity, but by uttering one rough word to a great personality, one can lose everything on all levels and descend to the primitive forms of life. How can it be? It comes from insulting words.

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Vedic astrology teaches that the shadow planet (lunar node) Kеtu reacts to insulting words. The Kеtu is a planet that gives off reactions, often immediately. The Kеtu also gives freedom. But in the negative aspect it punishes for insulting and disrespectful words by quickly depriving a person of everything he has reached in material and spiritual aspects. In the Vedic civilization people were taught to be very attentive to their speech. It is difficult to identify a person until he starts speaking. A sage can be distinguished from a fool once they begin speaking. Speech has a very powerful energy. Extrasensory specialists say that people using rude, foul or insulting language in their speech, have their energy marked with a black stain that can grow into cancer within one-two years.

10.3. Speech is a Manifestation of Life Power Our tongue is predestined mainly for praying, reading mantras, and discussing the topics bringing us closer to the Divine. We may also, as and when necessary, discuss everyday practical activities or communicate with those close to us. But the most important is not to overdo. Ayurveda teaches that speech is a manifestation of Prana. Prana is the life power, the energy of the Universe. The more Prana one has, the more health, success, appeal and harmony they have. Therefore, first of all, Prana becomes depleted when a person speaks, especially when they criticize, blame, complain or use foul language. According to statistics, 90% of all quarrels originate with criticizing or putting somebody down. The most successful people are those who speak pleasantly and can control their speech. The Bhagavad-Gita says that the art of self-restraint in speech is the ability to tell the truth in pleasant words. People who speak rudely occupy the lowest places in all hierarchies. This is true of countries as well. Note the fact

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that the countries with a high level of speech culture are more successful – Japan, Germany, and, in general, all the countries of the Group of Eight. However, even in those countries there exist tendencies of cultural degeneration, including speech culture degeneration. This adversely affects both the economy and spiritual life in general. In the East, any person who cannot elementarily control their speech is considered very primitive, even though he may be a professor in the West.

10.4. Karma is Determined by our Speech It is important to remember that when we criticize somebody, we take in the negative karma and the bad character habits of this person. This is how the karmic principle operates. We also pick up on the good qualities of an individual we praise. That is why the Vedas call for us to always speak of God and the Saints and praise them. This is the easiest way towards obtaining Divine qualities. In other words, if you want to gain any qualities, it is enough to read about some Saint who possesses them, or discuss the particular qualities with somebody. It was noticed long ago that we obtain the qualities of a person whom we think about and consequently speak of. That is why even Western psychologists recommend thinking and speaking about successful and harmonious people. But the more egoism and jealousy we possess, the more difficult it is to say any good words about somebody. We need to learn not to criticize anybody. I had a patient for whom his horoscope had predicted a severe illness in a certain year, but he remained healthy. I asked him what he had started to do that year. He replied that he had vowed to stop criticizing anybody. And he said that he really noticed that his life had become better, and his spiritual practice had reached a new stage.

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Those who criticize us take our negative karma and give their positive one to us. The sages have always maintained that it is good when we are criticized. How does speech work with our karma? The Mahabharata states that if you contemplate or plan to do something, do not tell anybody about it. Once you speak about it, the probability that your plans will come true decreases by 80%, especially if you share your plans with an envious and greedy person. Why do people who speak less and having thought it over achieve more? They do not lose energy. Another simple rule connected with speech – if we have done something good to somebody and boast of it in front of others, at this moment we lose the constructive karma and all the fruits of our godliness that we gained as a result of that good behavior. Boasters do not achieve much. That is why we should never scream out about our achievements, because at this moment we lose all the fruits that we have previously earned. “Do not let your left hand know what your right hand does.” (The Gospel of Matthew, 6:3)

10.4.1. Our Thoughts Determine our Speech A real story: a disciple approaches his master with a question: “You recommend living with an open mind. But won’t my entire mind then fly away?” The teacher replied, “You just need to keep your mouth closed, and everything will be fine.” Our thoughts determine our speech. That is why it is important not to think badly about anyone.

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The more disorganized are thoughts in our head, the more they appear so on our tongue, and the more muddled our speech will be. The one who thinks clearly can speak clearly. There is one more level, and that is to learn to accept criticism. One of the mind’s qualities is its ability to justify itself in any situation. The lower a person’s level is, the more excuses you will hear from him. Even if he committed the most atrocious crime, he will rationalize it without even blushing. I have conducted seminars in jails, including those for especially dangerous criminals; I was surprised to see that almost none of them considered themselves guilty. One of the main indications that a person is on a high level of development is the ability to calmly accept any criticism.

10.4.2. Rules of Reasonable Speech There are three yogis meditating in a cave. Suddenly they hear an animal sound. One of the yogis says: “It was a goat.” After one year the second yogi answers: “No, it was a cow.” After another year the third yogi says: “If you don’t stop arguing, I will leave you.” The first rule of intelligent speech is to count to ten before you want to give a hasty remark. This may seem impractical; in the beginning we will hardly be able to count to three. Nonetheless, if you reply after a small pause it will sound much more intelligent. This is because the first thing that comes to your mind

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when you are criticized or reprimanded is to look for an excuse and to give an abrupt reply. That is why you should learn to think for 5-10 seconds before giving an answer. Besides, it will bring the unnecessary emotional intensity down. A person who practices self-restraint speaks very little, but well thought out. I read in the biographies of some great personalities that they never replied immediately after being accused of something, and preferred not to speak at all while they were angry. They postponed speaking of it until the next day or until the moment when the emotions quieted down, because they knew that while anger and irritation influence their speech, the consequences might be sorrowful or sometimes even devastating. The second rule of intelligent speech is not to go to extremes. God shows up in trivial things, and the devil in extreme ones. One should not vow, “I will always be as dumb as a fish.” Such a promise, especially if you are a pronounced extrovert by nature, can bring only harm to you. If your psychophysical nature implies that you need to speak a lot, then you should speak in a way that will benefit the people listening to you. Therefore, be open and benevolent, and most importantly, live attentively. It is important to remember that our level is determined by small and insignificant actions: the way we react to rudeness in a shop; what emotions pervade us when somebody “undeservedly” criticizes us, and so on.

10.5. Three Levels of Speech A person standing on a high spiritual level, in goodness, can experience even physical pain whenever they hear bad words about somebody, or see or hear something abusive. They may feel as if somebody has physically flung mud at them. Such a person always tells the truth using pleasant words.

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They consciously utter every word, and every word brings harmony into this world. Their speech contains inoffensive humor, mostly at their own expense. Such people are practically always healthy and happy. Only it might be difficult in the beginning to keep yourself from stupid remarks or from being driven into a pointless discussion. People in passion are very sensitive to any criticism directed at them; they can enjoy speaking for hours on end about sex, money, economic prosperity, politics, purchases, about how good they are; they love to sarcastically discuss somebody and so on. They speak very fast. Their humor is mostly vulgar and connected with sex. Usually at the beginning of their talk they feel great satisfaction and enthusiasm, but afterwards they feel overcome and dismayed. And the higher their level of consciousness, the stronger these feelings are. Such style of speech leads to complete degeneration on all levels. People in ignorance pepper their speech with offensive language, exaggeration, accusations, threats, dirty words, etc. All their words are soaked with anger and hatred. When such a person opens their mouth, it seems that the room becomes filled with a rotten odor. That is why if you tell such a person something nice about somebody, he may fall ill. As a rule, such people, consciously or not, provoke others into anger, irritation, grievances, envy, etc., because they are tuned into this wave and fed by these basest destructive emotions. Their humor is dark, full of insults and poking fun of the misfortunes of others.

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They are delusional from beginning to end. The Universe sets them right by means of great misfortunes and severe diseases. They rapidly develop mental disorders. One must avoid even being in the vicinity of such people, let alone communicate with them. It is rare to come across a person who remains constantly at the same level. As a rule, a personality is evolved out of different levels, or it is one personality that changes rapidly. This greatly depends on: 1. The society that we choose at work, rest, etc. For example, after several minutes of speaking to a passionate person, we may find ourselves deeply engrossed in an argument about politics, even though 10 minutes ago we didn’t care at all about it. 2. Places. For example, we can hardly imagine any spiritual discussions at a casino, in nightclubs, at a beer stall, in a drug den and so on. If a place is full of obsession and ignorance, the sounds heard there will be similar. 3. Time. For example, from 9 PM until 2 AM is a period of ignorance. This is why, exactly in this period of time, one may feel the urge to visit an ignorant place, watch a meaningless movie, speak on meaningless or at best, obsessive topics. “Have a sleep on it” – people’s wisdom says, as the morning is a more reasonable time. It has long been noted that if you discuss some subject or take a decision in the late evening, you will regret it or at least see it in a different light in the morning. That is why if we follow this simple rule to never make any decisions in the late evening and generally speak as little as possible at this time of day, it will make our life significantly happier and save us from many problems and misfortunes. It is not by accident that nature also sleeps at this time. Have you ever heard birds singing then?

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At the end of the week you can test yourself as to which speech has dominated during the week. If it was in goodness, then you should readily feel how harmony and happiness come into your life. If it was obsessive and especially meaningless, then it will naturally lead to diseases, depression, and misfortune.

10.6. Gratitude is the First Step towards Harmony and Love What can I say about life? That it has proved to be long. I feel solidarity only with grief. But until my mouth is stopped up with clay, Only thankful words will resound from it. I. Brodsky

The important rule is to rid oneself of grievances. The first step towards love is gratitude. There are few people that utter thankful words to anybody in this world. As a rule, all people express grievances, whether explicitly or in a concealed way. But it is important to remember that whenever we do not thank somebody, it means that we are beginning to criticize, bearing a grievance while sometimes not even being aware of it. Service does not only mean physical help, but mainly spiritual help, enabling someone else to develop awareness of God, giving of your love, bringing someone closer to the Divine. Everything we do without love brings only misfortune and destruction, no matter how noble it might look on the outside Spiritual leaders teach that every second we either move closer to God or further away. Every situation is a lesson. We need to thank God for every situation sent to us. The Almighty is AllMerciful, He desires only the best for us every second. Every sec-

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ond is assigned to teach us something. As soon as the grievances appear, our heart center becomes blocked. The most frequent grievances are those caused by bad luck, people around, dissatisfaction with oneself and the world. Grievances can be expressed not only through words, but, first of all, in thoughts, tone, communication style, and attitude to life. Every situation is given to make us work on ourselves. The less harmonious we are, the more stressful and severe the lessons we will get. But as soon as we accept the situation, relaxation arrives, and accordingly the situation comes to a speedy resolution. Ayurveda teaches that you will not be able to get rid of a disease until you accept it. This is the first step on the way to recovery and resolving any problem: you should completely and internally accept this disease and misfortune as God’s mercy, while externally doing your best to tackle the problem. Until we accept a situation, we spend 90% of our energy on mulling over it. Our organism is able to overcome any disease. Also, we are able to solve any situation and emerge victorious over it. If we have to go through an ordeal, it means we are able to withstand it. God does not give us ordeals beyond our capacity. Instead of complaining, we need to get used to expressing thanks.

10.7. Complaints are the First Step to Disease and Misfortune You need to pay attention to the quantity of gratitude that you have, as well as how much complaint to others. You will find out that most often you have more grievances than gratitude. Complaints are caused by the mind and the false ego. Every complaint of ours has a destructive nature; it depletes our energy and closes up our heart. True humility means to accept any situation. Many people understand humility as something theatrical:

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if you are slapped on one cheek, turn the other cheek too. But the reality is that it concerns our inner state. We accept any gift of fate, no matter what it is. It is desirable to repeat as often as possible in your mind, or even better, to declare verbally: “There is God’s love for everything.” I noticed long ago that the appearance of people who repeated this phrase underwent drastic change, they became gentler; the obstructions of their body disappeared, and they generally became happier and healthier. Do try this, it works! If our unconscious will be tuned into acceptance and seeing God’s will in everything, it will advance us to perfection. In May 2006 I was invited to conduct an astrological seminar at the festival that took place in New Vrindavan (USA). Radhanatha Swami, a great guru from Mumbai, told us the story of the passing away of his disciple. It is a long story, but the summary is that this disciple had seriously devoted himself to spiritual practice from the age of 20. Until approximately 40 he was celibate. He was actively involved in popularizing spiritual knowledge and participating in various charitable projects. At a certain point he made up his mind to get married. He had a beautiful young wife and a newborn baby. But at this very moment the disciple came down with a serious form of cancer. His spiritual friends organized the best treatment for him, but nothing helped. Every day his body became more and more weakened, causing him terrible physical suffering. But he always expressed only gratitude. Nobody ever heard him complaining, “God! Why have you punished me so? I have faithfully and truly served you for 20 years and devoted my best years to You!” Not a single complaint was ever heard from him, only gratitude. He thanked God and his spiritual gurus for sending him visitors every day, devout men who would chant Holy names and spoke about God and the Saints. He praised God for always taking the best care of him. Once Radhanatha Swami called him to give him his last instructions and to provide support. The disciple was completely astonished that the

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spiritual guru remembered him and wanted to give him his last instructions. He said to the people around, “How great this guru is, he has many outstanding disciples but he remembers even the ordinary ones like me.” What is amazing is that he did not ask for health, even though he had done everything the doctors instructed him. He thought that God knew better what was necessary for him. The only thing he asked for was a blessing to be able to selflessly serve the world in both this and the next lives. And in one of his last days Saint Babaji, who had only been seen in Vrindavan (one of the holiest places in India), came to Mumbai. It was known that he had never left Vrindavan, and nobody knew how he had learned that this great soul was shortly going to leave its body. He arrived to stay with him during his last days. Until his last breath this godly devout one only continued to thank everybody. And in spite of the awful bodily pain he endured, he radiated so much love, calmness, and light that many people would come not only to support him but also to simply stay in his aura. But if you ever happen to be in a common hospital, you will hardly hear thankful words, but mostly only complaints and lashing out, “Why has God sent me such a thing? Why is He so unjust; I am such a good person!” More so if one has followed at least some principles of decency and rules of a local church, they will not be able to stop boiling over... And there is no need to get into a hospital, if you just look around, you will mainly hear grievances and complaints: about the government, ecology, relatives and friends, quality of services, etc. Nowadays, almost all people imagine that everybody owes them something. And whenever someone does a favor for another person, then it produces the certainty that this person must remain in his debt until his dying day; as a minimum, he must return like for like. And, as usual, we have a choice: on the one hand, we may join the general mass of people and become engulfed in the infernal life of reproaches and grievances and to live with a closed heart; or, on the other, to get

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used to seeing God’s mercy in everything, and instead of asking the question, “Why?” ask the question, “What is the purpose of this for me?” We must get used to opening our mouth only for GRATITUDE, understanding that we can feel blissfulness only through selfless and secret giving. And we are given such vast opportunities in this world, in our time... For this alone we should already be constantly thanking the Almighty. So let us vow to be careful of our speech from this day forward, to set up the love for God as our goal and to strive for perfection on all levels.

Conclusion Let us be like the Sun! It is young, This is the command of beauty. K. Balmont

Thank you for finishing this book. It has travelled with me in draft form around the world: Israel, Canada, Alaska, California, India, Russia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and other countries and states. I am finishing it in New Zealand. Everywhere I was either teaching, giving consultations or being taught myself. In each place I got more proof how the truths discussed in this book indeed work. From my own experience as well as that experience of other people, I know that if a person begins following the recommendations of this book, their life can change for the better in a few days. It is said that if you have read a book less then two times, it means you have not read it; therefore, I recommend reading it at least two times. The information has been given quite succinctly; every chapter can be developed into a separate book. That is what I am actually planning to do with some of the chapters. In conclusion, I would like to share with you some ideas to sum up: 1. Imagine that a friend of yours tells you, “Yesterday I was at a wedding. It was a wonderful wedding in all respects, everything was very well organized, there was only one hitch – the bride mistakenly wore a black funeral dress instead of a wedding one, and this strangely put everybody into a sad mood.” The same can happen in our life – we may follow the best advice, but if our face wears a sad and dissatisfied expression, we will not become happy after all. As one philosopher said, “We laugh not

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when we are happy, we are happy when we laugh.” So, try to smile as much as possible, enjoy your life and its every moment. 2. Once at a lecture I asked the audience: “Do you want me to predict for every one of you one definite thing that will surely happen?” Every body got excited and nodded. For many skeptics it was a great opportunity to check my prediction abilities. “You will all die. Of course, only the Almighty knows exactly when.” Nobody was able to contradict these predictions. And this relates to us as well, dear reader. Our physical bodies will one day be destroyed, and we will have to leave all earthly things behind. Well, what of it? Shall we sit and cry, “Oh, one day I will lose this and that, and indeed all earthly things?” Imagine you have come to some celebration, but you are sad because it will be over in three hours. Thus you will spoil your mood and that of the people around. Great people always live in a joyful mood and die with a smile on their faces. And, of course, their next life will be even more joyful. 3. We always have a choice – to make a comedy out of our life or a tragedy. Every day, every minute we face a choice – to smile and to offer thanks, or to put on a long face and to express complaints. The word radost (joy) in ancient Slavic means to give Ra (the sun). In other words, to give light to the people around, to illuminate. When I had finished editing step 10, I was given a book by Robert Stone with a similar title. I opened it on a page with wonderful poetry: A careless word will ignite a quarrel; A harsh word will break a life; An unkind word will bring a grudge; A rude word can kill; A kind word will pave a way;

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A joyful word will enlighten it; A necessary word will lighten a burden; A word of love will ease a pain. I turned a page, where an American scientist Rollin MacCreity, a head of the group dealing with mathematical heart research, stated, based on many years of research, that feelings of malice and grievances make a harmful influence on an organism, whereas a feeling of gratitude brings useful influence. 4. Our life is what we think about it. Everything is in our mind. As we convince ourselves and set up our mind, so it will be. Indeed, happiness is a distinct state of mind. 5. Once an enlightened master was asked by his disciples, “Master, it is so easy to reach God’s Love and, consequently, happiness. Why then are people so unhappy?” To this the master answered, “Nobody wants it.” But having seen that the disciples did not understand him, he sent them to inquire of people what they wanted. When they came back, they said that they had encountered many people from various classes in life. And none of them had said that they wanted to be happy and to reach God’s love. They all answered that they wanted to buy a new house, to attain a high position, to earn lots of money, to have many children, to become more spiritual and moral... Therefore, everything begins from the properly set life goal – to be happy and live in an ocean of unconditional love, and then suddenly the realization hits: There is no path toward happiness – happiness itself is the Path. Be happy! November 2007. Copper Beach. New Zealand

About the author Rami (Pavel) Bleckt. He used to be an officer of the Airborne Forces troops. Later he led the life of a monk for five years in Eastern ashrams. Currently, he is a Teacher and consultant of Eastern psychology and the astrology of ancient India. In his work he utilizes the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures of different nations, Cabbala, Sufism, revelations of the ancient sages of the East, as well as modern scientific works. He has a PhD in psychology. In 1995 he began giving personal consultations to people. He also taught at college and university the fundamentals of Eastern Psychology and religious Psychology and was even asked by the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs to conduct lectures for prisoners in four different prisons. Since 2004 Rami is president of the International League of Alternative Psychology. He is chief editor of the “Blagodarenie s lyubovju”, international magazine published in Russian (“Thanksgiving with love”), a magazine for those who want to be happy, healthy, and successful. The number of issues has reached 150,000 copies and it is spread in many countries of the world. Rami has developed a number of unique author’s courses and trainings. He also wrote very interesting books that changed many persons’ lives: «Destiny and Me», «Ten Steps on our Way to Happiness», «Three Energies. The Forgotten Canons of Health and Harmony’’, «How to Deal with the Universe or How Planets Influence our Health and Destiny». In 2004 Rami was elected Best Teacher at the 5th International Festival of Psychology and Psychotherapy Stars. He received the in-

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ternational Alquimia Award 2007, in the category “Life Alchemy,” the nomination “Personality of the Year in Workshop Trainings.” He holds seminars and trainings in Israel, Russia, USA, Canada, Kazakhstan, Germany, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Great Britain, etc. He takes part in radio and TV programs of these countries. The programs with his participation attract lots of attention, as Rami can deliver the most profound truths in a very simple, practical, and humorous manner; his words earn the trust of his listeners. He is excellent in speed consulting new people in a live broadcast, telling them the fragments of their past, describing their characters, subconscious agenda, and giving very efficient advice. Rami is a personal, independent advisor and consultant for many political leaders, famous public figures and known businessmen in several countries of the world.

Rami recommends you to read: The Holy Scriptures: Bible, Bhagavad-Gita, Upanishad, Torah, and the statements of gurus of Sufism, Buddhism, and Cabbala. 1. The works of the Lubavitcher Rebbe (Menachem-Mendel Schneerson). 2. Ayurveda tractates: Charaka-Samhita, Sushruta-Samhita, Ashtangahridaya-Samhita. 3. Khita-Padesh – a tractate on the Eastern psychology and pedagogy. 4. The books by Doctor of Medicine David Frawley, primarily “Ayurveda and the Mind” and “Ayurvedic Therapy.” 5. The books by S. N. Lazarev “The Diagnosis of Karma,” 1-12.

6. The books by Robin Sharma, primarily “The Monk who Sold his Ferrari.” 7. Robert T. Kiyosaki, “Rich Dad, Poor Dad.” 8. The books by Shivananda Swami. 9. Professor Viktor Frankl's books. 10. Rabbi David Aaron, “The Secret Life of God.” 11. Joseph Murphy, “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind.” 12. Robert Svoboda's books. 13. The books by Swami Rama and the books by the ancient Indian sage Patanjali: “Yoga-Sutras,” “Mahabhasya” and “Charaka.” 14. I. I. Vetrov, “Basics of Ayurvedic Medicine” and other books and articles by this author. 15. Abraham Maslow, “The Farther Reaches of Human Nature” and other books and articles by this author. 16. Adam Jackson, “Ten Secrets of Abundant Happiness.” 17. Father Alexander Elchaninov: “Notes,” (Moscow edition, company “Russian Way,” 1992). 18. Rudiger Dahlke and Thorwald Dethlefsen, “The Healing Power of Illness: The Meaning of Symptoms and How to Interpret Them.” 19. The books of Vishnu-Devananda Swami. 20. The books of Ekhart Tolle.

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Testimonials Dear Mr. Rami Bleckt! I really cherish the memories of our meeting in Moscow. I am very grateful to the Lord for having met me with one of the gems in Russia. To be truthful I had until now not seen any Russian with such a deep understanding, faith and comprehension of antient times wisdom – be it Astrological or be it Spiritual. I Thanks again for the meeting. Dr. Ravishankar Polisetty edede We can see now bookstores full of clever thick books named “How to be happy”. And what? You will find nothing interesting and practical there and all of them will be about the same… In this incredible small book you will really find valuable advise which will help you to have a different look at and may be to restart your life. Unbelievable changes start happening in your life since the very first minute you begin following Rami Bleckt’s step by step advise. I have given this magic book to many people, all of them have a chance to make these 10 steps to happiness. If you have dreams: a family, a baby, money, a new job and so on, you CAN get them very quickly by following the way and by using the means described in this book. Tatiana Piunova Manager “Bank of Moscow”, Russia edede “Making this amazing book, Rami did an incredible effort to put together, for our today’s life, guidance based on those few knowledge that come to us from in ancient days. It is also based on his personal large practice of helping thousands of people in different parts of the World. Very big positive changes are happening with all people that I know who red this book. Some of them, make a radical turn in their life, running away from today’s problems and life style and going to happiness and successes at home or work. A lot of my friends coming back to this book every time they have a trouble or difficulty and it helps them all the time…” Ivan Sharaev Human Resources Professional, Moscow, Russia

Thank you very much for writing and publishing your magic books, the magazine, and your video-trainings. Your books, especially “The Ten Steps”, are like a bunch of energy. Your life starts to change even if you simply open it, which have been tested many times on different people. I am studying your last book, but it is already obvious that it is an exclusive thing. With great respect and love, Nataly. edede My name is Ramina. This is truly my real name, given in honor of an Italian singer. I decided to write you being under the impression after reading your book “10 steps on the way to happiness.” The book made me think over and reconsider my life. I got especially interested in the chapter “How to overcome apathy and where to get energy”. After reading this book, I decided to change and began to pay more attention and take more care about my appearance. Such spiritual literature helps me be more selfconfident. Ramina, Student edede I would like to thank Rami for this wonderful guidebook on how to reach true perfection and happiness. I first listened to this book on an audio CD while driving to work. It immediately caught my attention as Rami was explaining universal laws by a very simple language, easily understandable for everybody. To my mind the main idea of the book is that there is only one true goal and that is to reach God’s love or a unity with God. If one has this goal then well-being, health, good relationship etc. will follow automatically. Dear Rami, thank you for revealing the way to God to your readers! With love, Karina