I AM PROSPEROUS

The Law of Attraction

Thoughts are things that permeate and feed the creation of the world around us. An apparent Law of Attraction seems to underlie every single action and reaction in this universe. As you think, you are literally laying down the building blocks of your reality. A person with an ‘abundance mentality’ has no sense of lack in their heart and thus their consciousness attracts prosperous things to happen to them over and over again. On the other hand, someone who sees only limitation and lack in their life will create barriers in their mind and thereby limit the natural flow of good fortune, and thus they may have to constantly struggle for survival. Such a miserly consciousness closes the heart to the ‘sunshine’ of good fortune.

The Law of Attraction states that whatever you believe with all your heart will be your truth. Or as Henry Ford stated: “If you think you can do a thing or think you can’t do a thing, you’re right.”

You Deserve the Best

The Bible states that man is made in the “image of God.” The Vedas declare that you, the soul, are qualitatively equal in all respects to God. Naturally, therefore, you and I deserve the very best the Universe has to offer. It may sound precocious to declare such favor when we are obviously so entangled in this material domain; however, the fact remains that the Godhead, as a loving Mother and Father figure, only wants the very best for their children, and therefore we should always expect such favor.

Wallace D. Wattles puts it this way:

“It is perfectly right that you should desire to be rich; if you are a normal man or woman you cannot help doing so. It is perfectly right that you should give your best attention to the Science of Getting Rich, for it is the noblest and most necessary of all studies. If you neglect this study, you are derelict in your duty to yourself, to God and humanity; for you can render to God and humanity no greater service than to make the most of yourself.” (The Science of Getting Rich)

We are all Equal

The Bhagavad-gita offers an insight into the nature of spiritual equality:

The humble sages, by virtue of true knowledge, see with equal vision, a learned and gentle brahmana, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a dog-eater (outcaste) Bhagavad-gita 5.18

The purport is that a truly wise person does not make any distinction on the basis of species or social status; they see beyond the external temporary covering of a material body and acknowledge the presence of a life force within. This life force or soul (atma), according to the Bhagavad-gita, is always accompanied by a Paramatma (Param: Supreme; Atma: Soul) or God in the heart.

If the nature of God is love and compassion, we can naturally conclude that God is equally kind to everyone, because a loving God would treat every living being as a friend regardless of the circumstances of the individual atma.

Although the body is made of gross matter, the soul within is of the same spiritual quality as the Supreme Soul. The Bhagavad-gita explains that the Paramatma or Supreme Soul is an expansion of God within this material world. However, the qualitative similarity of the individual soul and Supreme Soul does not make them equal in quantity, for the individual is present only in one particular body, whereas the Paramatma is present in all bodies. The presence of the atma and Paramatma is what animates all material bodies. A dead body is by definition devoid of the presence of the host soul (atma) and Supreme Soul (Paramatma).

A truly learned person is aware of this presence and is therefore respectful and compassionate to all living beings.

The Rain does not Discriminate

The rain falls indiscriminately on mountains, oceans, rivers, and deserts. There is no possible way to know exactly where a particular raindrop will fall. Its inevitable fall to earth is the result of a combination of natural phenomena, the least of which is the mercy of God. The message here is that when mercy descends it is often just like rain—indiscriminate. In other words, you and I are just as worthy as the next person for some unexpected drop of good fortune.

Because we are by nature qualitatively like God, we should expect only the best at every moment. There is no benefit in maintaining a defeatist attitude, because in ultimate reality, you, the soul, can never be harmed, cheated, or exploited. [ctt template=”5″ link=”2dZQm” via=”yes” ][/ctt] This optimistic and blissful attitude will serve to attract all that we sincerely desire.

We are Heirs

If you believe you’re a child of God, then you also need to embrace the fact that you are worthy of God’s kingdom. Sure, we may feel that we don’t deserve such good fortune because of our past inauspicious behavior; nonetheless, by spiritual heritage, we are still worthy. But even considering spiritual heritage,

why is it that some people are born into wealth while others struggle their entire life just to make ends meet? You may be surprised that the decision is not entirely in the hands of God.

You see, even if a wealthy father bequeaths his entire wealth to his son if that son is in ignorance of his father’s wealth, he may not act appropriately to inherit the good fortune. Such is the predicament of most people today; they are totally unaware of their divine heritage as a child of the Supreme Personality of Godhead—the source of all opulence, and therefore they do not act in ways that allow wealth to come into their lives. They have convinced themselves that poverty is their lot in life and that nothing ever goes right for them. It is a self-serving prophecy that enslaves them into poverty consciousness. If you’ve found yourself in this trap, get out now! You have the power to do so, and it all starts with reprogramming your mind.

Prosperity Consciousness

The first rule of wealth is to act as if you already have wealth. This means really believing it from the core of your being and behaving accordingly. There are many tactics you can employ to help you establish a prosperity mindset. One trick I have applied in the past is the ‘I already have it’ game. It goes like this: As you pass by something that catches your fancy, you say to yourself, “I already have it.” The point here is that you are projecting into the future that owning said thing is a reality, only that time is currently separating it from manifesting in the present.

Similarly, if you are in need of a particular quota of cash to meet an expense, you can repeatedly say to yourself, “I already have (whatever amount of money is needed).” What this exercise serves to do is to put your mind at rest so that you then behave more natural and detached. I have found this technique

to be very effective in direct sales when I have had a particular quota to meet for the day. Before going out of the house and throughout the day, I would repeatedly say, “I have already made $1000 (or whatever my quota was) in sales.” As I did this, I found my entire demeanor transform so that whomever I then met felt relaxed in my company and did not sense any pressure from me to buy. Rather, they felt I was already successful for the day and believed that so many others had already bought my product, and therefore they should too! My prosperity consciousness made them feel at ease and unpressured. They did not perceive me to be selling at all but instead felt in control of the decision to purchase, and more often than not, they did!

Once you firmly establish a detached and successful mindset, it will translate into a successful body language, a tone of voice and sense of contentment, and you’ll find helpful people will flock to your side. Prosperity will be drawn to you like a magnet.

Motivational speaker Brian Tracy believes there is a Law of Expectation. He states:

“This law says that whatever you expect with confidence, positive or negative, becomes your reality. If you confidently expect to succeed, if you confidently expect to learn something from every experience, if you confidently expect to become wealthy as a result of applying your talents and abilities to your opportunities and you maintain that attitude of confident expectations long enough, it will become your reality. It will give you a positive optimistic cheerful attitude that will cause people to want to help you, and will cause things to happen the way you want them to happen.”

Another technique I have used is to always have $100 in my wallet so that whenever I pass by something that I desire in a shop window I can inwardly say, “I can buy that if I want to.” This exercise will set your mind at ease,

knowing that you have the capacity to get what you want. But for the time being you choose not to act on this power.

Essentially, what is needed here is to reprogram your mind, so that you fully believe that you deserve the best and that, in fact, you already are successful. Krishna explains in the Bhagavad-gita how the mind can be our friend or enemy:

For him who has conquered the mind, the mind is the best of friends; but for one who has failed to do so, his very mind will be the greatest enemy. (Bhagavad-gita 6.6)

As long as one’s mind remains an unconquered enemy, one will be forced serve its dictations of lust, anger, pride, and illusion, etc. Once we learn to master the mind through regulation of the senses, meditation, and constant practice, then and then only will we be able to get a hint of our nature as soul.[ctt template=”3″ link=”eeey8″ via=”yes” ]tweet it[/ctt]

Self-Satisfaction

One of the keys to happiness is learning to be content with your own company. As long as you believe that satisfaction and love are something that you must find outside of you, you will never be fully satisfied. So the foundation of any prosperity consciousness needs to begin with self-satisfaction and gratitude for what you have now, which begins with appreciating everything about you and taking the time to honor yourself with these positive affirmations.

Prosperity is More Than Financial Success

It is important to understand that prosperity is not exclusively tied to financial success, but extends to all things and experiences that bring us a sense of self-worth and contentment.

Therefore, even an impoverished person could feel prosperous. Like everything in this material world prosperity is a relative term. It means different things to different people. Prosperity is simply the state of feeling prosperous, or a state of flourishing, thriving, good fortune or having a successful social status.

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I Don’t Deserve It

Although our state of mind may serve to be the biggest barrier to prosperity, there is another significant factor— karma. You see, we may desire something with a passion but our past karma may determine that we don’t deserve it. This little detail is often overlooked in success systems like The Secret, wherein all the emphasis is placed on desire, and karma (or what we deserve), is never considered.

According to the ancient Hindu text Padma Purana, a contemporary of Bhagavad-gita there are 8.4 million different species on Earth and they are categorized as follows:

Jalaja (Water-based life forms) – 0.9 million
Sthavara (Immobile implying plants and trees) – 2.0 million
Krimayo (Reptiles) – 1.1 million
Pakshinam (Birds) – 1.0 million
Pashavah (terrestrial animals) – 3.0 million
Manavah (humans) – 0.4 million

Each one of these species is animated by the presence of a soul. When the soul is not present, the body is dead. At a funeral gathering, we talk about how the person has left while their body is right in front of us laying in a casket! What has really left, is the soul.

It important that you understand that all forms of life have a soul. Some soul is currently experiencing this world and expressing itself through a dog’s body, while another is doing this through a chicken’s body, etc. Someone has to be a dog! When we look into the eyes of an animal we can sense the presence of a soul there. Like you and I, animals have intelligence and feelings; they have social rules and unique personalities, all clear proof of the presence of a soul.

According to the Padma Purana, each soul is traversing through each one of these species at some point in their spiritual evolution. We’ve all been a dog; we’ve all been an alligator, etc., for each material form has offered us a unique set of experiences and opportunities from which our consciousness can evolve. The human form is a special opportunity to break this cycle of karma and reincarnation and escape the entrap-ment of a material form and return home, back to Godhead.

Considering the enormous amount of material conditioning we’ve all been through, it is no wonder that feelings of doubt and pessimism take a front seat in our minds. Indeed, the traumas, unfulfilled desires, and failures of the past are literally written into the DNA codes that direct every cell in our bodies. Karma and past conditioning are serious things to contend with but the good news is that they can be overcome.

Breaking Free of Past Conditioning

Intergenerational Trauma is the belief that extreme trauma can affect the children and grandchildren of future generations even if these children never experienced the same. However, the emerging field of epigenetics is revealing that such trauma residue is being passed down through more than simply learned behaviors. A common example of this are the children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Trauma or its effects are actually being passed down through our genes.

What are We Passing on to Our Children?

One of the most dangerous ideas we’ve all learned is that the genes you get from your parents are passed on to your children, and there is nothing you can do to change their impact. Epigenetics is challenging this paradigm.

We do pass on the exact same chromosomes from parent to child, however, their quality can be dramatically changed based on what unique experiences we have and the life choices we make. In other words, we have the power to rewrite the software (genetic code) that is controlling every cell in our bodies.

What is Epigenetics?

In simple terms, your DNA has the shape of a double helix containing thirteen rungs in a spiral ladder that make a chromosome. Like the more complex brain, the DNA uses a binary system using amino acids to effect an ‘on/off ’ (yes/no) switch.

You may have received a facsimile of a chromosome that your mother or your father carried, but your chromosome is constantly changing according to the decisions you’ve made in your life. In other words, some rungs in the ladder will now be off where they were once on and vice versa. Your genes are directly responding to the environment you create for them. Like you, they too are alive with purpose.

Our DNA exists at the core of every one of our trillions of cells in our bodies and provide instructions for those cells functioning and for new cells to be created. Therefore, if you have better quality DNA you can expect better quality instructions (genetic code) for each of your cells and in turn, a happier, healthier body.

On the contrary, degradation of the epigenetic structure of our genes will lead to the lowering of immunity and fertility and an increased susceptibility to cellular mutation.

How Can I Reprogram My DNA?

You and I have the power to positively influence this genetic code and it all begins with the tongue. The tongue has two functions—tasting and vibrating. According to the spiritual traditions of India, the evolution of consciousness begins when one is able to master the tongue. We do this by eating foods that are pure in nature, free of violence and have been offered with love to God. As pointed out earlier, such food is known as prasadam in Hinduism and Buddhism.

The oft-quoted maxim: You are what you eat, has tremendous significance in this regard. Typically, when people hear this they think of how that extra jelly doughnut will transform itself to increasing the size of their midsection, however, we need to take this concept down to the cellular level. The food you eat, not only deeply impacts every cell in your body but the vibration that food carries with it directly influences our DNA (genetic code). Therefore, celibate monks in these traditions strictly avoid food cooked by sinful or lusty people.

This same influence is there with the sound vibrations we expose our cells to. The other function of the tongue is to vibrate, therefore, it behooves us to be diligent in ensuring that the sounds we make with our tongue are uplifting, truthful, thankful and more importantly, devotional. In this regard, all the spiritual traditions praise the efficacy of chanting the holy name of God. Indeed, there is no purer sound than the holy name of God. The Bible states:

Hallowed be thy name,” and “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1).

In the Gita, Krishna declares:

Of sacrifices, I am the chanting of the holy names. (10.25).

Similarly, the Holy Quran states:

His are the most beautiful names. (59.24).

Praising or chanting the name of God or the Goddess is a special form of prayer. In many religions, the excellence of chanting the name(s) of God lies in the mystic syllables, which invoke God’s purity and sovereign power. The various mantras in Hinduism and Buddhism – such as Om, Hare Krishna, Namu-myo-ho-renge-kyo or Om Mane Padme Hum – and the Roman Catholic practice of chanting on the Rosary all focus the mind on the spiritual plane and call forth its mystical elevating influence. In Christianity, prayers are offered in the name of Jesus Christ, who promises to do whatever is asked in faith. Indeed, in the hands of a great Adept, the power of transcendental sound to initiate change could conceivably be unlimited, when we consider that creation itself was but the result of the Spoken Word!

When we intone names of God and cause the name to vibrate throughout our body and consciousness, we align our energy with that aspect of the divine creative intelligence represented by the name and directly influence the quality of our DNA.

A source for divine names for those that resonate with the Judeo-Christian tradition is the ancient Hebrew Qabala. The ten names contained in the Tree of Life are the ten manifestations of the divine within the physical world. Three names, Amen, Hu, and Eheieh are considered particularly effective.

Of special mention are traditions of the many names of God that enumerate His many attributes. The Qur’an contains the ninety-nine most beautiful names of Allah, and from India’s Mahabharata there is the Vishnu sahasranama, “the thousand names of Vishnu.” Each name eulogizes one of Vishnu’s countless great attributes. To recite these names, it is said, is to give a magnificent description of the height, depth, and breadth of divinity.

In the Sikh Adi Granth it is stated:

Contemplate solely the Name of God; fruitless are all other rituals.
The true essence, eternal is the Lord’s Name.

Probably the most famous mantra of Buddhism is Om mani padme hum, the six-syllable mantra of the Bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara. This mantra is particularly associated with the four-armed Shadakshari form of Avalokiteshvara. The Dalai Lama is said to be an incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, and so his devotees especially revere the mantra.

Throughout the Vaisnava literature, the Maha Mantra (Hare Krishna, Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare) is praised for its efficacy to instill devotion to God and purify the chanter of all worldly desires.

One of the fundamental functions of the tongue is to vibrate, and therefore the great spiritual traditions of the world have always encouraged us to “praise the Lord.” However, there are many other ways to purify the vibratory function of the tongue aside from prayer and reciting Holy Scripture; for example, speaking only palatable truths; speaking words that are beneficial to others, and expressing heartfelt gratitude.

Sri Krishna makes this clear when He states in verse 17.15 of the Bhagavad-Gita:

Austerity of speech consists in speaking words that are truthful, pleasing, beneficial, and not agitating to others, and also in regularly reciting Vedic literature.

The 12th-century saint, theologian and philosopher Ramanuja of the Sri Sampradaya, comments: “Words which consist totally of truth yet do not offend those spoken to and which are imbued with sweet and pleasing words that are inspiring and beneficial are austerities of speech in sattva guna (the mode of goodness).

Mastering these two functions of the tongue will bring you tremendous benefit by way of a less agitated mind, healthier body, more controlled senses, a better-programmed DNA, and most importantly, a cleansing of your past karma, all of which can lead to a more peaceful and prosperous life.

Gratitude

Gratitude is a fruit of great cultivation; you do not find it among gross people – Samuel Johnson

We must learn to be thankful for the blessings that surround us. It’s so easy to find fault, but what do we achieve when we do that? Nothing, but unhappiness and frustration, with more of the same faulty behavior being attracted to us. It’s better, therefore, to focus on what is right and wonderful in your life right now, for according to the “Law of Attraction,” that sort of positive mindset will attract more of the same.

The universe doesn’t see negative or positive, after all; one man’s poison is another man’s nectar. In other words, because

all thoughts are energy, and because all matter is simply energy compressed, the thoughts we focus on becoming the building blocks of our physical reality. Cultivating a heart filled with gratitude is the foundation for a truly prosperous life.

Milton once wrote,

“Gratitude bestows reverence, allowing us to encounter everyday epiphanies, those transcendent moments of awe that change forever how we experience life and the world.”

[ctt_author author=”881″ name=”Paul Rodney Turner” template=”1″ link=”eeVK3″ via=”yes” ][/ctt_author]

I AM PROSPEROUS – One of the five noble truths