Greetings and welcome to awakening with Brahma Kumaris. Sister Shivani is with us. Welcome sister. Thank you so much. Om Shanti. Om Shanti and welcome to Soul Reflections. Thank you. You are the books you read, the movies you watch, the music you listen to., the people you spend time with, the conversations you engage in,. Choose wisely what you feed your mind with.
Its first line said- you ARE. You are the books you read. It means whatever you read or listen, whatever you see, whatever your conversations are – that is who you are. If we understand its depth, a lot will change in our lives. You are means if we are watching something or reading It could be crime, it could be pain, it could be violence, it could be torture. It could be any emotion which is not pleasant. Which is an emotion of pain. It is saying you are not watching that, it is saying you are that. If we look at it at the level of physical body, this body is what we eat. Whatever a person eats, whatever air he breathes, the water he drinks. Basically whatever gets into the body This body is getting made out of them. Different people eat different things. What is the body made up of? Whatever that eat.
So what I feed my body, that is what my body is. Feed could be air, water, food – everything. It is what I feed. That is what my body is. Now, what I feed my mind – that is what I am. In childhood we had heard – you are what you think. Yes very true, you are what you think. But what you think is based on what you feed your mind. Does thinking happen first or feeding? Whatever we feed, that is what we think about. It is like – whatever we eat and drink is what makes our blood, is it not? If we watched a movie in childhood, its effect would last for many years. Everything that gets inside us not only has an effect on us. Why this line is so important is It is not saying that whatever we read, listen, or speak will have an influence on you.
It is not saying that. It is saying you are that. Many times we say – This thought arose, negative thoughts go on, the moment a situation comes I start thinking negative. Many people who meet us and say they don't know why negative thinking comes to them so easily. How am I supposed to think positively? We read so much that we should think positively. When a situation comes, the other person tells us to think positive. But we are unable to think positively. Positive thoughts are not coming to me, they are only negative. Why so? I have two options – either to think positive or negative. But why are only negative thoughts coming to me? In the same situation, how is somebody else able to think positively? Which means at the same time and in the same situation, why are two people's health different? It is because both of them have over a period of time consumed different food, water and air. That is why their health differs. Similarly, why do two people respond differently to the same situation? Because both of them over a period of many years have fed different things to themselves and stored them within.
You are what you feed your mind. Now if we check how the whole day goes. The day begins with newspaper. Along with that, news channel. Next, we either get into the car, bus or metro to go to work. We put ear plugs and listen to music. Information. Or we are listening to the radio sitting in the car – information. Quality? You are what you are listening to. Each and every song that we listened to, we feel we are only listening to them. If we just pay attention that whatever we are listening to – every word in that piece of music is becoming a part of our personality. Because it is going to become my vocabulary. Whatever we listen to? My attention immediately went to children. About what we're supposed to speak in front of them and what not to. That is why the line said – the conversations you engage in. Whenever I am having a conversation with my wife or with my staff and the kids are with me, they are listening to whatever I say.
Yes they are listening. They are not just listening to it. They are becoming that. Why are the becoming that? They are absorbing everything. We are absorbing everything. This is so important. Why? Because today we are flooded with media. Media, social media, electronic media and print media – we are flooded with information. And we are not filtering that information. Whatever we are reading, watching, listening, whatever somebody posts – we read it completely. And while reading it we say we are only reading it. We don't say we are becoming that. We say – We are reading it. We are watching it. If we add another line to it today – "We are becoming it" we will stop. But these things cannot be connected to our studies. If somebody is doing his Ph.D. Doesn't it become a part of his personality? It becomes his knowledge, is it not? It can be anything. It does not matter whether it is negative or positive. Whatever you take in is becoming a part of your personality. Today we just need to do one thing – while reading or listening to something we need to tell ourselves That we are becoming this.
Then you choose whether you want to take it or you don't want to take it. Whether you want your children to take it in or you don't want them to take it in. The shift that we are seeing in the society today, the shift that we are seeing in children's personality, even the shift that we are seeing in our own personality Why are our stress levels and aggression increasing? Why is our emotional stability reducing? We are fluctuating and getting disturbed too often.
We are feeling an emptiness within. The reason for all this – what are we filling ourselves with. Over the last 20 years, our exposure to information has increased. With gadgets, with technology, with 24/7 media, our exposure to information has increased many, many, many folds. During our childhood, we spent more time with children of our age group. Today's children spend time with us. How much information would they be gathering? Whatever we watch on television they are also watching. If it is a violent movie then they are also watching it with us. If we are scolding a staff member then they are also with us and listening to all that. It has made so much of a difference. Everything that we are consuming is getting absorbed into the soul. There is no filter to say that I read this but I will not absorb it. There is no filter. Whatever I read got absorbed.
It is like ink falling on my kurta. I can't say ink fell but my kurta will not absorb it. At least that ink can be washed away. But the information taken in cannot be deleted once it is consumed. Once it is taken in, it gets absorbed inside. Next, our thoughts will be created out of this information. Early morning if I read that there was an accident here or there, or about a bomb blast, or a fire blazing somewhere – I read all this in the morning. When I read it I know it is happening in the world. So I thought it is News and so I need to read it. Because I say I should know what is happening in the world. So I read it, and when I read it, it became a part of me. And then in the evening, if one of my family members does not return home in time We get back those thoughts – that something wrong might have happened to my child.
At that time the thought that – Something good would have happened with him and hence he is late – it cannot even come. When I read a newspaper or watch on news channel that something wrong happened with a minor child My mind immediately goes towards the minors whom I know. When you read or when you saw it, was something which happened with one child. See how this is going to happen. It happened with one child. 1 crore people read about that incident in the newspaper. So that information got registered in the minds of those 1 crore people. All those people thought about many other children. Nothing has happened yet but everyone has started to think. So the moment they all thought, vibrations got created. Those vibrations got radiated into the environment. Many souls absorbed these vibrations.
And people who were already a little emotionally weak – they also observed this information that something wrong happened with a minor child. So it became a part of their mind or soul. Next it is come into their action or their Karma. Whatever the media is showing to us is what is happening in the society. So media shows that to us. But once media shows that to us And a very big population absorbs that Then that incident increases in the society. Whatever incident gets absorbed, that gets increased. Not just the reaction towards that incident. It gets all the more absorbed when it is reported in the newspaper when organizations are made and everyone focuses on them.
If you are working towards the solution, that will get absorbed. But if the focus is on the problem, then that gets absorbed. So instead of highlighting the problem, highlight the solution. Because whatever you show or say, we watch and listen to that – and then we become that. Otherwise, if we only keep listening to what happened to someone or at some place, or what happened with a child It means we got only that much information and it gets registered on the soul. Something unpleasant happened with that child, so what quality of thoughts will we create now? They will be related to that incident. Every thought created becomes a part of our personality. We radiate vibrations of fear about our children that nothing unfortunate should happen to them. Whenever the child goes out to meet somebody we will again create that thought that he/she should be careful. Worry, fear, anxiety will become a part of our personality. But so many times there is no solution. We just read and say – What else can you expect in this Kalyug? And we just hope or pray that such things don't happen. What is the solution to elevate the society? That everyone's personality should elevate.
What is the solution to elevate our personality? We read about it – what we read, what we speak, what we watch. Just look into the last 10 to 15 years – quality of media, quality of certain movies, quality of few songs – what is being conveyed through them? What are the lyrics in those songs? A child is listening to them every single day. The child feels he's only listening to music. But that is not all. He is becoming what he listens to. Now listen. Choose wisely.
Just like how we choose our food wisely – today we eat organic food and drink mineral water. Start consuming only organic information. If we start taking care of that, the quality of information we take in will change. What is the percentage of information being shared on WhatsApp and Facebook, which we actually are not supposed to read even a single word of? Even a single word from it should not go in. Whether they are short video clips, jokes, comments about a person, satire, bad humour, criticism, even a cartoon. 80% of messages on WhatsApp is about these. There are so many posts which we are forwarding to each other I would say 90%. When I get these messages, I just see a snapshot and delete it. The moment I read the first line that something happened, I delete it. Even videos have something politically against each other, or something about a religion – basically most of them contain negative views. Some of them are not even true. It is all about one person's perspective about another. Suppose I have to write about you. So I create a post about you.
Maybe I wrote something making fun of you or criticized you. Whatever I thought about you is what I wrote. So I prepared a post talking about you. So this post has an opinion about you based on my personality. It can be right for me. It is my perspective about you. But when I make a post out of it and send it to somebody If I send it to 100 people, and each of those sends it to 5 more people. And then it just spread into a country of a 100-crore people.
So my perspective about you, which means only one soul's perspective 100 Crore people read it. Let us say, my perspective about you is that you are a horrible person. This is my perspective. That you are not a good person. Suppose I feel you don't do the right things and you are always wrong. My perspective is that you cheat people, you steal things. You may have 100 virtues in you. But I see the wrong things. So it is just my perspective. We are not saying whether it is right or wrong. It may be right for me. But it is my perspective. But when 1 Lakh people read 1 person's perspective It means 100,000 people absorbed that person's perspective. Whatever I wrote with my perspective that he is like this or he does that, 100000 people consume this information. Just visualize that my perspective got fitted in the minds of 100,000 people. Whether they believe it or not believe it, that quality of information has now become a part of all those people who read it.
This is not a small thing. What I wrote was impure and negative. 100,000 people read it. Suppose 50,000 people believed it and 50,000 did not believe it. Even those who refuse to believe and say that it cannot be possible But what quality of information did they consume? If somebody else dislikes that person, they can, in turn, write many more things negatively about him – that he did this or he said that. They can just go on and on. So you see the equation? How did it all start? I just wrote my perspective about one person. But people say it is about freedom of speech. Yes people will write and share it. That will anyway happen. We have no control over them. But we have control over what we should read. We have the choice here. We cannot curtail other people's power. But we have the choice – what do I want to consume? I may believe what I read about you or I may not believe it. But important is that I consumed a negative piece of information. After reading the entire thing, I can say I don't believe it. Ok fine, don't believe it.
But I have consumed a negative piece of information. So it is depleting my soul power. It is like – suppose I eat a samosa. But after eating I say that Samosa is not good for my health and should be avoided. But I've already eaten it. Once have you eaten it, it is a part of my system. Whether I consider that Samosa to be healthy for my body or unhealthy, it has now become part of my body. We are constantly listening and reading today about politicians, actors, a caste, a religion or a group. They are all becoming a part of our personality. As the quality of a majority of the information is not pure, souls are getting depleted by reading and listening to it.
Once we start depleting because of this, and tomorrow, if there is a situation in our own lives, creating a right response for it, will not be possible for us. Can you explain this further? If I keep eating junk food for a long time – kept consuming wrong food and wrong water and even polluted air It means now they are all a part of my body. When all these are in my body, my body's immune system goes down. My immunity reduces. So now even if there is a small variation in the climate or anything else, I will fall ill. Similarly if I feed my mind with not just junk, but toxic and negative information Someone says negative about the other person and that person talks negatively about a third person.
This keeps going on. They will continue doing what they want. Why are we absorbing it and making it a part of our personality? Let us please take this message today and make it a Mantra of life "I am what I feed my mind." We need to write this line and paste it somewhere in our bedroom or our table, are on our phone's screen. I am what I feed my mind. Why is our emotional strength reducing? Because what are you feeding our mind the whole day? Did we start the day with consuming something pure? The whole day did we read or listen to good information? When we did not even consume that quality of information, how will soul power increase? When soul power has not increased how will the mind create good thoughts? Where is the source? We are talking about changing our sanskars, thoughts, and attitude.
Nothing of this can change till the information we feed ourselves changes. Today if somebody listening to this program says that he wants to become a positive person If he wants to change negativity – which does not just mean hatred or anger. It even means pain, sadness, hurt, jealousy – all these emotions are painful for the soul. Today if somebody is thinking of releasing himself from these emotions Then the solution is with ourselves.
It is our own choice. If we start giving ourselves the right emotional diet from tomorrow, and not consume tamasic information even for a second. Suppose I spend 30 minutes in the morning to read Gyan or anything else which is very positive. But rest of the day if I consume a lot of other quality of information It means I have both qualities of information. I need to consume healthy food. and at the same time protect myself from unhealthy food.
Need to protect myself from giving unhealthy food to the soul. Even if some information is not negative but if it is waste, why are we taking it in? A comedy or a joke whose flavour is not pure. Why are we consuming it? Do we have so much inner power for us to waste it just like that? Can we afford to do it today? And then we say stress is natural or anger is natural. Why is it becoming natural? Because the information that time consuming is full of these emotions.
When we start taking care of our body, we prepare a diet chart of what to eat. We will not mix it with any other quality of food. The other day I met a brother who is working on himself to improve his physical health. His weight had increased to close to 85 or 90 kgs. He met a trainer and the trainer prepared a chart for him. That chart had a diet like boiled food in the morning, Dahlia, protein shake and so on. Apart from training and gym. When I looked it this boy I said – he is about 18 or 19 years old and goes to college, spends time with friends, and even attends parties.
So I asked him how he is going to stick to this chart. He said – "If I have to achieve something, I have to stick to this chart. I have decided that in 4 months I need a certain kind of physical body. I am going to stick to this chart." And then he went on holiday for 4 days. And because of it, he had to eat this and that. He could not stick to that diet chart. He came back and said to me – "Within just these 4 days, my effort of 2 months went for a waste." It happened in just a matter of 4 days and 2 months of effort went for a waste. Which means – we cannot afford to take the right diet for many days, and then a wrong diet even for a few days. Need to be careful and always pay attention. But there are a few books being written these days saying you can eat whatever you want because your body knows what it needs. We need to sit down and ask ourselves – whatever we put into the body the body will get made of that.
Today if I eat 4 items that are Sattvic in nature. And then I eat 2 items that are Tamasic in nature. Will both of them not become a part of my body? Both will become. So I ate 4 things that are healthy and 2 that are unhealthy. It means 4 items were of high energy and 2 others were of negative energy. Now all of them are a part of my body. Same for the soul. Let us create a mantra for ourselves today and repeat it often throughout the day. I am what I feed my mind. I am what I read, watch and hear. This has to go on like a Mantra throughout the day. So we will be filtering out a whole lot of information. Thank you so much, Sister. Thank you. Om Shanti. Om Shanti. Thank you so much.
