THE REMINDER

A Satsang (Discourse) given by Maitreya on "Reminder (a practice we do daily); Relationship between ego and the death and/or out-of-body experiences; Twin Flames and Soul Mates; etc." The Reminder is a very POWERFUL spiritual exercise given by Maitreya to humanity. This exercise bring the focus of a person back to the Goal of Life.

 
12/6/1987 Satsang (Discourse) by

Maitreya

Question: You recommend that people say the Reminder at least two times daily or more. I was wondering what are the benefits for doing the Reminder?

Maitreya: The Reminder focuses your spirit toward the goal. Every verse directs us closer to this goal. What is the goal of the life? It's to be(come) Divine. And how is that Divinity possible? It's to respect God, to send salutations to Him.

So that's why we open the Reminder with, "We pay our salutations to the Divine Father." Then "We open our hearts to Your Grace," because Grace is the path to salvation. Without Grace salvation is impossible. Then we promise and pledge, not only to help those who are attracted to us, who are interested in spirituality, but "to help the whole universe to reach higher consciousness." So there's a pledge there. Furthermore, we revere all the Great Souls, not only the Great Souls in the past but those to come. So it's a continuation of the Great Souls. No Great Soul is the last one.

We expect many, many Great Souls to come and explain further our teachings and other Great Souls' teachings. They will help humanity to understand the Spirit behind the whole universe, not what our two physical eyes see, but what is the Spirit behind every vision, every movement, everything that we do in our life and events that happen on earth?

That brings us to realize that there is no one, no man, no Prophet or even no Messiah who is the last one. The Messiah keeps coming again and again and again, until the fulfillment of God's Plan. That makes everyone open themselves, not only to their own teachers but to many teachers. And being open to many teachers and the teachings covered in The Greatest Sign expands your consciousness. This will bring about that deeper meaning of what your own Prophet or religion has taught you.

For instance, if I had never read anything about the Far East philosophies, or never meditated on those philosophies, I wouldn't understand the deeper level that Jesus (Esa) or Muhammad or Prophets of the Old Testament were talking about. If I was only a Jew or a Christian or a Moslem in my life I wouldn't understand the deeper meaning of God.

If I hadn't meditated then I wouldn't have had a spiritual experience, personally. So if you don't have personal experience, the only thing you have is your preacher. Then what the preacher says, that's the only truth for you, because you don't know yourself. You have never had any experience yourself.

Who's the connection? The preacher -- so the preacher actually becomes your God because you haven't heard God personally. That is why meditation becomes important. Meditation is when God talks to you. Prayer is when you talk to God.

So that is why we revere "all those Great Souls in the past and those to come, who have helped and will help all to understand your compassion and mercy in your actions and creation." By experiencing God, you understand the justice of the universe, also you understand the things that seem apparent are not the real truth. There's a much deeper meaning behind appearances. This makes your life move more in the Spirit. So you move more in the Spirit instead of getting caught in what is seen and done.

You actually become like a general instead of the soldier. You can just sit back and say, Yes, that is what the Spirit wants and that's how it should be done. As long as you are in the Spirit, you are in harmony with God. And for whoever is in harmony with God, nothing goes wrong. It shouldn't go wrong. If things start going wrong, either it's a lesson or you're out of Spirit -- you're following your own ego.

So those people who show us this Spirit have to be revered. Many Great Souls have been on earth in the past and all are trying to show that Spirit to humanity. So that again opens us from being narrow in one person, one Prophet or one religion to many people, many Prophets, many religions.

And then, "We surrender ourselves to Him, the Words revealed to us through His Prophets and The Greatest Sign." There are many people claiming that they have the Word of God --they are channels -- many believe in that.

In order for God to bring His Word completely to humanity and show that "This is My Word," He chooses His Prophets -- His special Prophets who fulfill the prophecy. It is not just an ego trip or a little realization. It is the ultimate realization. So He sends His Prophets with His Words. Those Words become or became the religions of the Seven Seals in The Greatest Sign.

So those Prophets have brought the truth. If somebody says anything which is not what they (the legitimate Prophets revealed in The Greatest Sign) have said, we can be sure it's not from God. That's the guidance for us, "the words revealed to us." Don't surrender to whoever comes and says, Well I'm channeling this or I'm channeling that.

We surrender ourselves to God's Prophets and with this we have a yardstick. We can compare, Is that what the Prophets said? If that person says the same thing as the Prophets said, then it is from God, because He showed us through history and made out of the teachers of these Prophets, major religions of the world. So we can completely be sure if their words are OK, if they're from God or not. It will save us from a lot of heartache and headache, and from following false prophets.

Also, we surrender to The Greatest Sign, "which clarifies the confusion between all." There is some confusion between Jews, Christians, Moslems, Hindus, the Mystical Path, etc. The Greatest Sign brings them all together, unifies them and clarifies this confusion.

So that's why we not only surrender to God, to the words revealed through His Prophets, but also to The Greatest Sign which unifies these great Prophets together. So it gives us a very clear-cut, crystallized path to the ultimate realization of God. The whole becomes greater than the parts.

Then after we pay our salutations to the Father, we open our hearts to His Grace and promise to the universe, we revere the Great Souls. We then surrender to Him, His Prophets and The Greatest Sign. Then we submit ourselves to the Formless, Nameless and Invisible God, which is the only way to unify humanity and the universe.

If God has a form, then God can have many forms, because God is everything. If there are many forms, there is separation. My God is that, your God is this. So you are separated. If God has a name, God can have many names. He can be Allah, Krishna, Yahweh, any name that has been given to God -- again separation.

If He is visible, He has to have form. This goes back to having a form and again separation. So the highest state of Godhood is Formless, Nameless and Invisible. In that state It unifies because humanity has nothing to hang onto, to create separation from each other. If your God is Formless, Nameless and Invisible and my God has the same qualities, it's the same God, isn't it?

It can't be different. We can't be separated from each other, because there's only one God in the universe and that is the God you have and I have. Oh yes, our God is the same. You see, there is nothing to separate us from each other. You don't know His Name. You don't know His shape. You don't know anything about Him. You don't even know who He is. He is a Spirit. Spirit doesn't have shape. Spirit is Truth. Spirit is Power. Spirit is Grace. Spirit is The Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost doesn't have any shape. So in submitting to that, we go beyond any Guru or ethereal beings or anything like that. We go beyond. We go to the Essence, the Highest. That creates Unity.

At the same time (in the next verse) we revere those people who live now, those who "will teach us how to know Him and show us the way to Pure Consciousness." Such people are those who connect us to the Spirit of God. They don't connect us to themselves, and they don't become obstacles in the path to God. They show us the way to come in touch with God, with the Spirit. In that regard, Communities of Light are the most helpful places, because the people will come together and create a community based on the Eternal Divine Path which is a very crystallized spiritual path.

This helps you to know the Spirit, because in the communities there are all kinds of support. So the people, instead of concentrating on mundanity, always following this and that for making money which takes you away from Spirit, will share, will understand, will struggle together. As they struggle and share and try, they understand themselves on a deeper level. They become One, as our song Samgacchadvam says.

So all these things make the Reminder a very crystallized powerful reminder of our goal and God, and how to reach the goal of life. It brings the focus to the way, the how and the what of the spiritual life of each individual. So that's why it's very important to not only do the Reminder but also to understand the great meaning behind it. This brings greater Unity to all.

Question: Is the Reminder related to the chakras at all?

Maitreya: Yes. If you look at the Reminder, there are seven verses. So you can see, in a way, each verse is related to one chakra. Of course, we can't say which one is related to which. Each verse is really related to all the seven chakras. If you look at the seventh verse, it's reverence to the Souls who "teach us how to know you" and eventually we reach Pure Consciousness. We reach the goal of the life.

This is exactly the same as Haree Om Shrii Hung -- Om Nam Kevalam. There are seven syllables, the last one is Kevalam. Kevalam means everything. So everything is Divine or God. God is everything: Pure Consciousness is everything. Also the seventh verse in the Reminder is reaching Pure Consciousness, reaching everything. So you can see a relationship to all and the seven seals together. They go hand-in-hand.

Question: What is the relationship between the ego that leaves the world and stays at the threshold, and the tunnel that people see when they go out of their bodies?

Maitreya: Some people have an experience when they leave their bodies. They go toward a tunnel and some people don't experience that. And also when somebody has a death experience and comes back, what happens to the ego? If he goes to God, or to Pure Consciousness, or Spirit, or to the ethereal level, how come when he comes back he still has the ego?

When a person dies, or leaves the body and goes to a higher level, he has to leave that ego behind. He has to go to the purest form he is. He leaves that state, his body, and goes to the higher level. When he comes back that ego is still waiting for him. He hasn't learned his lessons completely yet.

When we go back to the Spirit, we see the result of the actions of our previous lifetimes. We see the lessons we were supposed to learn and haven't learned. We are rewarded for the lessons we have learned. Our egos will be lightened because we learned those lessons. When we come back toward the body, wanting to come back to the gross world, it doesn't matter whether we leave the body while we are alive or when we die and are born again. We take up our ego again. We bring our ego back with us.

That's why you see, when a child is born, he's usually not there. He's really still in heaven. He's not used to the body. In the beginning he really doesn't know any separation, no separation from the mother -- his mother is a little different because there is an ethereal relationship -- the father, the other people. Everybody's equal to him. It's not that much of a separation.

He starts getting personality. And little by little if you look at him, he starts getting separated. He becomes choosy. He says, this is my mother. This is my father. This is not my father. This is this person. This is that person. This one has this relationship with me. This is Ma. This is grandma. That is how it works. They start getting their ego back. They are getting their individuality back.

Now if you know who the person was in a previous lifetime, and know who he is in this lifetime, usually you see a trend. They have not learned that lesson that they were supposed to learn in a previous lifetime. So their ego comes back and it becomes complete when the child is five years old. The ego develops to the maximum, to the highest by then.

It is then that it is recommended the children start meditating. Of course, it is hard to sit children down and make them still to meditate, because there are so many things on their mind to do, to learn and experience. So that's why it's good to have them meditate on a walking mantra. Haree Om Shrii Hung, for instance, or something that keeps them focused on higher things, while at the same time they learn to discipline their mind, instead of their mind becoming a wild monkey that jumps all over.

Their chakras, their psychic centers, haven't been developed completely yet. That is completed around twelve years of age. That is when formal meditation and spiritual disciplines have to be started with the children.

Now there are some people who experience a tunnel that they go through when they leave their body or when they have a death experience. Some people don't experience any channel. It's a different personal experience. You could probably say, that the channel is their ego that they're going through to reach the other side. There probably wasn't much of an ego with the person who doesn't experience that channel. They just went right to the light, on the other side.

Of course, there can also be other explanations of how that works because every person's psychic experiences are different. So we should not take other people's experiences as our own and be uncomfortable if our experience was not completely as theirs, or feel that because our experience wasn't as theirs, something is wrong with us or our experience wasn't legitimate. With your intuition, you are the real judge. Was that legitimate? Did I really feel or experience such an experience, or am I making it up just to look good? Some people think it's a kind of prestige to have that kind of experience, to be a channel, to know this spiritual person. These are ego trips, that really don't satisfy.

Every individual's experience is that individual's experience. So we shouldn't be that much concerned about it or feel awed by it. Everyone has the ability to experience God. This is our birthright to have this experience because we are a Spirit and God is a Spirit, we are both the same. If other people have some experiences, great. If we meditate and purify ourselves and if it is His Grace, we will have some experience.

Maybe we're not supposed to have any experience. Maybe we're just supposed to love God as a Spirit and go through life without any experience. Some people who don't have any experience are probably even higher than those who have experiences, because those who have experiences are still in the ethereal level. They might become bogged down or they might be caught in the ethereal level and become completely lost.

Those who haven't experienced, when they lay their head down to go to sleep, they just go to Pure Consciousness. They wake up in the morning, fresh and happy. They never had any dream or experience but they slept or died and went to heaven all night. Then they wake up in the morning born again, just a completely new person. And they didn't have any experience. So that doesn't mean they are not higher than those having an experience.

If your experience helps someone else, it's a message God has given you that helps other people, then you have no choice but tell them. That's what God wanted. That's the experience that God gave you. You don't have to run out every day and say, Last night I had this kind of experience or that kind of experience. So what? Good for you. It doesn't matter. It's not that important. It is your individual experience, meditate on it and learn the message!

Again, the universe is not black and white, it is many different colors. It's a rainbow. Also every color in the rainbow has infinite shades. So which color is really the color of a rainbow? Which experience is legitimate and which experience isn't?

Because God is infinite you can experience Him infinitely. So there are also infinite experiences which many have with God and that is why we have to rely on our own intuition and also listen to the Prophets and their words. If we listen to the Prophets and their words, and create a keen intuition, that is going to be our guide. Of course, if we find a teacher that also can guide us to the higher level of consciousness, that's great. That helps also.

So to answer your question: The ego will be left behind as we go to Pure Consciousness. But when we return, we take up our ego to come back to the body. If you had no ego and had to come back to help others, an artificial ego (karma) will be created for you so that you will be able to remain in the physical body.

Question: If you went to the higher levels, where things aren't opposites, would what you were looking for be the twin flame rather than the soul mate?

Maitreya: If we look at the Scriptures, God laid this thing out very clearly for humanity. For instance, God created Adam. Adam was perfect. He was male and female in the same body. Then God created Eve for him, which was supposed to be his opposite. She was his soul mate. The soul mate made him eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and both fell from Grace and went out of heaven.

Also there is another factor most people don't know. God also made another woman or another person for Adam. This one wasn't his soul mate, she was his twin flame. The twin flame is the same as the person, they are very similar to each other. And then what happened? Seth became their child. Eventually people again became God-conscious and started following Seth and his teaching. They created a new humanity.

So there is that attraction between the opposite, of course. Actually you cannot separate Soul. Soul is one with God already. You cannot break something that is already one with the universe, to something that becomes two as soul mates. So Soul in Essence has no soul mate. It's Pure Consciousness. It's neither male or female. How can you make something which is neither male nor female into something male and female? So in the highest level there is no such thing as soul mate or twin flame.

What really happened was the spirit of Adam which was male and female, was created into two bodies. Not really created but the propensities were in two different bodies, as Adam and Eve. The Soul was two completely different Souls, two different essences. The twin flame had the same propensity, the same kind of being in the two bodies. Still the Soul was different.

In our essence we don't have any soul mate or twin flame. In the spiritual level, the psychic level, we have had experiences with other people who have been with us, who were created to be together and become kind of a blending with each other. So we feel much more comfortable with them in our lifetime.

There's a lesson about Eve. Although she was Adam's soul mate, she became an obstacle to his spiritual progress. She tempted him to go against God's Will.

So that's why, although two people might be each other's soul mate, there are soul mates that sometimes become a drag, who hold you down from your progress toward higher consciousness and higher things. The best course is for the couple to become One with God. Then because they are One with God, they are One.

In that level, everybody is everybody's soul mate. Because they are not trying to become one in the physical level together, but they are One based on God. In this relationship the couples say: I'm not trying to become one with this person, I'm trying to become One with God. If I am trying to become One with God and he/she is trying to become One with God, then we're already One Soul. So in that level there is no such thing as soul mate or even twin flame. For in that level everybody can become each other's soul mate or twin flame, and become One with God.

Instead of putting our attention on each other, we put our attention on God. Then all these questions will be solved. Even if they have been together in previous lifetimes, and they have feelings of closeness because of that, if they concentrate on God, they still become One much faster than if they concentrate on each other. So the real soul mate or twin flame is not two people looking at each other, but looking at God. And they become One.

Question: So then if a couple is looking for soul mates, opposites, they're looking to learn lessons and they can expect a lot of turmoil in that relationship?

Maitreya: Yes, actually people who are looking for a soul mate or a twin flame or someone else are kind of saying, I'm looking for love. When I'm looking for love it's just like I'm looking for a house. I don't have a house. Or I'm looking for money, I don't have any money. It's the same thing. I'm looking for love. I don't have the love for which I'm looking. So I'm looking and the other person is also looking because we want to find love in each other.

Now I find a person who pays attention to me and I pay attention to him/her. What happens? I take the attention, the excitement of the first meeting, and I overlook the signs I see in the beginning. Because I already have all this planned in my mind that everything should be this way, this way, and this way. He's going to be nice. He's going to sleep at this time, wake at this time. Love me this much. Buy me that.

See I have planned everything and I am really looking forward to find that ideal. I really want such a thing so I don't see the signs that that person is not really what I'm looking for. Also the other person has the same thoughts. He has all these plans that this person is going to be what he thinks she should be. Also I'm looking for love and you're looking for love. So we don't have it.

I am asking you to give me love that you don't have, and you are asking me to give you love that I don't have. What happens? After awhile that initial excitement cools down. And then what happens? The very dearest, loving person who was closest to your heart becomes the most terrible person in the universe, because you didn't find your ideal in him/her.

If I concentrate on God, what does God have? God is Love. God has Love. I am full of Love. So I can give it to you. I have a universe of Love in me. So I can give 10,000 people that Love.

If you concentrate on God, you don't draw my energy and love all the time. If you are one with God, you see those people who draw the energy and don't give anything. So you avoid those people, or you put yourself in a bubble of light.

So you don't revere those kind of vampires, who live on other people's energy. A spiritual person feels that energy going out. This person is really drawing your energy and he/she doesn't give any back. It's not good for them either because they take your energy and misuse it. They don't know how to handle this Love, this Power, this Energy.

If the other person also concentrates on God, what happens? He or she is full of Love too. The energy starts flowing between us. I give Love, you give Love. It's just like the energy goes on and on. It's something that just never ends. It becomes a Dance. You don't need to hang onto me or hang onto your partner. You hang onto God, for God already has everything.

Now our oneness is complete. What you are looking for, I have. What I am looking for, you have. I really don't need your love, but I Love you. See that's different. You're not looking for love because you already have it and I'm not looking for love because I have it. We concentrate on higher things. That's why we are One.