People often speak of a little stranger being born into a family. However it is not a stranger, it is a connection of love from the past that is the attracting force that has brought that soul to them. It is really a loved one from the past who has come back and placed themselves in their care while they are weak, helpless and undeveloped. It is a great trust that has been placed in them. In essence you did not make him, he does not belong to you, he belongs only to himself and to God. You through love will for a time protect and care for him and guide him until he is developed to a point where he is able to fend for himself. You in turn will in due time receive the same treatment. There is in certain cases a condition where the opposite or hate will bind one to a parent and in this case we need that experience in order for us to grow. Sometimes when we marry we marry someone we know and really love them again. We sometimes marry a stranger and then we should really get to know and understand them, if at all possible. It is love that rules everything in the universe and what we truly love we never lose. Love is the one thing in the universe that does not know defeat.

Thoughts do not originate in the brain, thoughts are a vibration and the brain is the receiver. If we are too gross we do not intercept higher or subtle thoughts. Thought travels through mental matter. We catch moods as well as ideas from thoughts of others and when people are caused to think along one line it is called mass psychology.

It is true that our mental selves get into habits as well as the physical self. When a train of thought becomes habitual or fixed it then becomes a trait of character and that sets a destiny. The thing that matters most in life is character, more than capabilities or environment. If one has character one can overcome an unfortunate environment, and even so one of great capabilities will make nothing of himself if he is lacking in character.

Character is not a gift from God. Character building is evolved the same as everything else by our past and our present actions. Character grows by brave and honest facing up to the responsibilities of life. We are here to learn the lessons of life and if we shrink from facing and learning the lessons of life our character suffers. Sometimes by sheer force we evolve a strong character, but often it becomes cruel and intolerant, then we are taught mercy and compassion through pain in life.

A soul going through life needs both sunshine and rain otherwise life would be too one-sided and no balance would be established. In the sunshine the soul expands, gains power, enjoys happiness, etc. and a rain of tears purifies, develops compassion, greater understanding and less selfishness. So both are necessary for full soul development, just as a flower to grow and to blossom needs both the sunshine and the rain. The purpose of life is to forge fully developed humans and not to let us remain just as children of life. The purpose is to shape and evolve a God-like being of great power, peace and bliss. When pain has ended so has ignorance and selfishness ended.

It is the human, through free will and by Divine guidance, who can do anything he wishes. We can whenever we wish alter our character with imagination and determination and control of our thoughts. On whatever one's thoughts dwell one slowly becomes. It is a true fact that no one on this earth is perfect, otherwise he wouldn't be here in the school of life. We are on the road to perfection and as meditators we are in the process of perfecting very much faster than most of humanity. However, everyone is in various degrees of perfection. Another way of perfecting our character is through our actions. Our actions are constantly affecting us and others as well. Either we are helping others, or we are hindering them. If we help others then in turn we will be helped when we most need it. If, however, we have not been helpful and our actions have been destructive to others then others, as the unconscious agents of the law of retribution, will in turn bring us pain and cruelty; this is justice, this is our karma coming back. We should understand this and if we do then our soul and our character will be greatly strengthened in the fire of life, the same as gold is purified in the furnace.

We hear a great deal about right actions, but we should also remember that right thinking establishes right action. It is also said that actions speak much louder than words. So no matter what we say we are, our actions clearly define what we are. We are never punished for our mistakes, we are punished by our mistakes. It is only in the western world, where we believe in a one life only, that we believe in an eternal heaven or hell. This came to be because the truth of reincarnation was lost, so they had to place unending results upon fleeting and finite causes. The only hell one must endure is the unhappy psychological state one creates around himself while he is here on earth and simply takes with him when he leaves.

There will come a time when life on this side or on the other side has no more to teach us. Then we can be considered to be reaching a new state of perfection. This is what Transcendental Meditation is about. However, in the meantime we need to help ourselves along in life as best we know how, and we can strengthen our character and all other facets of our life which helps us to grow that much faster and makes the way to the goal that much easier.