“Be Careful”
October 7th, 2007
OM…OM…OM…
Sai Ram
With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan,
Someone has asked a question about the Vishwaswarupa darshan that Bhagavan discussed a few days ago. Lord Krishna first gave Vishwaswarupa darshan to Arjuna in the battlefield of Kurukshetra, and the questioner would like me to now explain the Vishwaswarupa darshan proposed by Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba recently.
Only Bhagavan can explain with any authority what He meant when He suggested that He would confer a Vishwaswarupa darshan upon us all. We do not understand sufficiently, as our conscious perceptions are limited to the human level. Our trying to explain or interpret anything at a higher level would be a mistake. Therefore, please excuse me if I do not comment on this, as I do not understand it any more than you do.
As for explaining the concept of Vishwaswarupa as it is found in the Bhagavad Gita, I will attempt to explain to you what I know. In the Bhagavad Gita, only Arjuna could see the Vishwaswarupa of Lord Krishna, and Arjuna did not see this with his physical eyes. He was instead blessed with a special kind of sight. It was only with Jnana netra (the eye of wisdom) that he could see the cosmic form of Krishna.
The Mahabharata also speaks of an old blind king named Dhritharashtra, to whom God granted this vision so that the king could also have Vishwaswarupa darshan of Lord Krishna. After having seen Lord Krishna’s form, King Dhritharashtra prayed to be blinded again because, after seeing his Lord’s form, he did not want to see anything else thereafter.
Once right here in Puttaparthi a few years ago, over in Kulwant Hall, Bhagavan gave a Divine Discourse during the Kalasa festival in which He discussed Virat Swarupa. During this festival, devotees come with containers of water atop their heads and they form a procession to worship a lingam. One lingam was kept very close to the dais and these devotees were seated there doing their puja. Suddenly I saw these VIPs form a queue to see the lingam and so, out of curiosity, I joined their queue. Each of us was quite amazed to see Baba in that Shiva lingam.
One doctor said, “Swami, we see Your Virat Swarupa in this Shiva lingam!”
Baba looked at the doctor and said, “Do you have to look there to see Me? Everyone is this hall is having Virat Swarupa.”
Not knowing what had been said between this doctor and Swami, I kept looking at the Shiva lingam and ignoring Swami. He mischievously noticed this and in the discourse He said, “Anil Kumar is interested in seeing Swami in the Shiva lingam, when Swami Himself is right here by his side! (Laughter) Even with Swami here by his side, he wants to look at the Shiva lingam!”
That’s what Baba said about Virat Swarupa. He said that the whole of creation is Virat Swarupa. The Bhagavad Gita states that when Krishna gave this vision of Virat Swarupa to Arjuna, Arjuna found the galaxies, the solar system, the mountains, the valleys, the seven seas and the complete cosmos in Lord Krishna. That is Virat Swarupa.
Beyond these details, I do not know anything more. You must come to your own conclusion. What Baba meant we cannot know because His awareness comes from a different plane altogether, one that is spiritual and Divine. Only He can explain what He meant; only I can tell you that this was the example that He gave at that time.
To see an object, what do you require? Sunlight is required. And to see the Sun, what is required? Sunlight is required to see the sun as well. When we see the sun, what we actually see is its light, correct? To see the moon, we actually must see the moonlight from it. So to know what Baba meant, we must refer to Swami, as only He can explain what He meant. He is the only one who can answer these questions for us. Light helps us to see the light; similarly, only He can help us to understand what He meant. I personally have nothing more to say on this matter.
Often we don’t think for ourselves, as individuals. We too often follow public opinion, tagging along with the mob. But I tell you, we are not a crowd; rather, we are individuals. This is particularly important regarding our spiritual paths.
Everyone is an individual and each must travel whatever is their path on their own. Realisation has to be done at an individual level. Realisation is not like a group activity -- not anything like mass marriages, group dinners, or group travels. The spiritual path is a fulfilling path when we travel it alone. Therefore, the point I want to make here is that as creators of our spiritual paths, we do not travel as a crowd or a mob. We are individuals in this. Let us remember that the spiritual path is an individual experience and not a collective journey.
Many of us also think that we are helpless in this world. When a challenge presents itself, we ask others, “What are you going to do about it? We are poor helpless creatures, so what can we do about this dilemma? We are limited, our powers finite, so what is it that we can do? We are poor mortals, so what is it that we can do?” That’s how people think.
But we are not simple creatures! No! Ants, mosquitoes, plants, animals, bees, wild animals… they are all creatures. But can you say that man is also such a creature? No! A human being is not a creature, but rather is a creator. We are creators, not creatures!
Creatures and creators are different. The creature has to follow a prescribed pattern, but each one of you is a creator. You create depending upon your own level of imagination. You create according to your own skills. You create according to the profundity of your own knowledge. Therefore you build buildings, you create projects, you paint paintings, you write poetry, and you discover medicines and create agriculture.
All fields of human knowledge are growing and improving more and more with each passing day. Every creation starts with an intuitive idea. Why? An intuitive idea is something individual. Everyone is creative; we are all creative. So know that we are creators and not simply creatures. Our lives are full of meaning and purpose.
A sculptor creates a beautiful idol. A painter creates a beautiful painting. How can we call him a creature? I cannot call a sculptor a poor creature. I cannot say to a painter, “You are just a creature.” No! The painting that he has created is just thought manifested. Therefore, understand that you are a creator, not just a simple creature.
Many of us are willing to dream. We are quite comfortable in our dreams because what we cannot do here, we can do there in our dreams. There, you can settle all your problems, achieve your plans and see to it that your enemies are vanquished. So, dreamland provides a place to achieve everything that you cannot do here. But friends, let us not live merely in a land of dreams.
I ask you to consider the dreamer here, rather than the dream. The dreamer is different from the dream. Why do I say that? Three days ago I had a dream, and two days ago I had another, and last night I had still another dream, but I am still the same man who has been dreaming all along. I am the dreamer.
My dreams have been changing day-by-day. The dream of a few days back is not the same as the dream from two days back, which is not the same as the dream of last night. My dreams change very quickly; but I, the dreamer, am changeless. The experiencer, the dreamer, does not change.
The world is a dream. Realise it! Life is a dream! Realise it! Life is a daydream, while the other is a night dream. The daydream does not exist at night, and the night dream does not exist during the day. But you exist at both times. The dreamer exists in both, though the dreams are different. This is the point we have bear in mind. So concentrate more on the dreamer than the dream.
Spirituality, as it is practiced today, has unfortunately become narrow-minded, leading to differences and conflicts. Those who go to a temple do not go to a church. Those who go to a church do not respect a temple, and neither group understands those who go to a mosque. This is not right.
You may call these people religious, but this is not what is meant by being spiritual. Religions each have an affiliation to a particular school of philosophy. Each religion subscribes to a particular philosophy, but spirituality goes deeper than this. Spirituality calls for reverence and respectfulness wherever you go, to be given to whomever you encounter. The kind of feeling that you have in temple should continue if you step into a church. Your respect and reverence should continue if you go to a church, a mosque, or a Gurudwara.
So let us be reverential and respectful. Let us practice worship uniformly in all places, more as an attitude than as an act. Acts are mechanical, but an attitude is vital. An act is a routine, but an attitude is vibrant and radiant. So let us have true reverence for all places of worship and for all religions. We, being Sai devotees, should be even more attuned to this than others.
We should not get ourselves attached to any individual, to any single place, or to any one book because the source is one. Truth is one. Attachment is bondage and non-attachment is liberation. People ask, “What is bondage?” Bondage need not necessarily be to your family, or to your property or your profession. Bondage is simply an attachment to an individual, place or ideology.
Non-attachment is liberation. You allow things to happen. You allow yourselves to be open to the Truth wherever it is said, wherever it is declared or found. You see the same Truth with all the reverence and respect. As a simple example of this, suppose there is a river. You allow the river to flow, and as it flows, you simply enjoy it. If you don’t allow it to flow, it becomes stagnant, a pool or a pond, and you cannot enjoy it as much because you are allowing it to become polluted.
Now think of non-attachment as something like a river or a stream. It flows continuously, remaining totally unpolluted, remaining pure and fit to drink. Spiritual life is a continuous flow of water, where you will find the Truth at any point because it simply goes on flowing. That’s why people say that spirituality is an eternal journey, an endless path. It has neither a beginning nor an end. It goes on and on. It is an eternal pilgrimage.
We have some funny ideas about freedom. Everyone thinks, “I am free.” When you are free, see to it that others also enjoy their freedom. Denying the freedom of another while claiming to be free yourself is neither justified nor logical. You are free, and the other person is also as free as you are. Allow them to exercise their own freedom. Allow them to think freely for themselves. Freedom means that you think others are as free as you in thought, word, and action. I cannot say I am free if I think in one way and act in another. That only means that I want to prevail over others. You will sound as if you want to make others slaves, while you want to be free.
So a man who is totally free is one who loves freedom and gives equal freedom to the other person. Just as he honours his own freedom, the free man gives freedom to the other and respects the other’s freedom. What is true freedom? True freedom is unconditional. When I say this, how many people disagree? You are very free to until you can agree that freedom is unconditional.
What is freedom? Freedom requires that you do not just stick to the same thoughts and beliefs throughout your journey. Many people find one thing to be true at one time; but later, with more experience and maturity, their old notions of Truth are replaced. With maturity and experience, we change and grow. So, freedom is fluid and flexible, as well as unconditional.
By enjoying my own freedom today and allowing you yours, I cannot say what I am going to do tomorrow. I do not know how I am going to react tomorrow. I cannot say what my feelings will be tomorrow as freedom is unpredictable. My friends, freedom has three qualities. Freedom is unconditional, it is fluid and flexible, and it is unpredictable. These are the three essential qualities of true freedom. Anything else is just a show, a drama and pretence.
We cannot please everybody all the time and we don’t have to. It is not necessary. Please understand this. In trying to please somebody, I may be displeasing someone else. So it is impossible to please everyone. Even for a politician! In trying to please everybody, we deceive ourselves and cheat ourselves.
Baba once gave us an example to help us to understand this concept.
Once during a hot summer when mango fruits were plentifully available for sale, one fellow put a big bowl of mangoes in front of his shop with a sign that read: Good mango fruits sold here!
Someone saw this said to him, “You seem to be a fool.”
The shopkeeper asked him why he said that, and the man said, “This is mango season and they are sold everywhere. You don’t have to say that mango fruits are sold here! It is foolish.”
So the shopkeeper summoned a painter and had that word ‘mango’ removed from his sign so that it then read: Good fruits are sold here.
Then somebody came along and said, “What fruits do you sell? Your sign simply say fruits. It doesn’t indicate whether you have grapes or papayas or bananas. What fruits what do you mean?”
So the shopkeeper again called the painter and had the word ‘fruit’ removed. Then what remained on his sign? Good sold here. (Laughter)
Then another fellow came along and said, “We see your shop here. You don’t need to say ‘here’. After all, you cannot have your shop here and yet sell somewhere else. What do you mean by using the word ‘here’? You see? It is a most illogical sign.”
So the shopkeeper called the painter again and had the word ‘here’ removed. So, ‘good’ and ‘sold’ were the only two words that remained on his sign: Good sold.
Another fellow came and said, “Do you mean ‘good’ or ‘goods’? Is good sold here or are goods sold here? What do you mean?”
“No sir, it is only good, not goods,” the shopkeeper replied.
And the visitor retorted, “Will anybody bad fruit? The word ‘good’ is meaningless.”
So the shopkeeper summoned the painter again and had the word ‘good’ removed from his sign. So now all that remained was the word: sold.
Another fellow then came along and said, “What are you going to sell? Yourself? Or are you selling the board itself?” So he summoned the painter one more time and got the word ‘sold’ removed from the sign.
The painter then presented him with two bills. The first bill was for painting “Good fruits are sold here”, and the second bill was for removing every word. By trying to please everyone, he lost everything. Even the sign! So you don’t gain anything by trying to please everybody.
There is also another story that relates to this. It seems that a young man and an old man were passing by one day with a donkey, and somebody said, “That donkey is walking and those two fellows are walking too. What useless fellows! They could sit on the donkey and let him do all the walking! What is the donkey for? You two own the donkey, but you seem to be the real donkeys! Why do you two walk next to the donkey?”
These two fellows heard this and said, “Oh I see!”
Then the younger man had the old man sit on the back of the donkey. Now, with the old man sitting on the donkey, somebody came along and said, “What a shame. There is a very young man there, and this old fellow can walk slowly, at about the pace of this slow donkey. At least the little fellow could sit on the donkey.” So, the old man got down and then had the young man sit on the back of the donkey.
Yet another man said, “This young man is sitting on the donkey, while this old fellow is walking. This fellow is brainless.” So now, both the fellows sat on the back of the donkey.
Somebody else came along and said, “That poor donkey has to carry the weight of both those fellows!” So the two men got off of the donkey and walked on their own. (Laughter) So these two lost the donkey, and they were abused and criticised by every fellow they passed along the way.
So friends, if you go on listening to others’ rumours, gossip and opinions and live according to them, yours will be something like the story of these two men and their donkey. If we live our lives trying to please others, we ultimately will lose the donkey and the sign, and it will all cost us more to boot. So the fact is that we cannot please all people all the time. By trying to please everybody, we betray ourselves, losing the little bit that we are left with. That is what I would like to tell you.
Let the title of this morning’s talk be “Be Careful”. The next thing that I would like you to be careful about is avoiding self-condemnation.
Some people say to me, “You don’t know, Anil Kumar, I was a smoker at one time.”
Why should I care that he was a smoker? It is good that he is not a smoker now. Likewise, somebody might say, “I was once an awful drunkard.”
So what? My friends, condemning oneself is much worse than anything that one actually may have previously done. We can make any mistake, but our maintaining a guilty conscience is much worse. Any mistake that I committed is over and done with; but if I go on telling everybody, “You know, last week I made a terrible mistake,” that is much worse. You made a mistake! So what?
Some people feel that they are not worthy to be here in Prashanti because of mistakes that they have made in the past. “We are not worthy to see Bhagavan or we are not worthy to be in Prashanti Nilayam.”
Please then, just stay at home! (Laughter) Self-condemnation is the worst of evils! It is the worst of all sins! Let us not condemn ourselves. Good or bad, whatever it may be that we have done, let us accept ourselves as we are now, today. Let us accept ourselves as we are, with all our plusses and minuses, with all that is positive and negative, with all the virtues and with the faults. Accept yourself as you are! That is true spirituality. Self-condemnation is wrong and it is a weakness. It leads to depression and frustration. As we learn to ride a bicycle, we fall repeatedly; but then there comes a time we are able to ride freely, when we don’t fall anymore.
I heard a great Christian evangelist named Joyce Meyer who appears on TV every morning. I listen to her talks, as I am open to hear anybody’s thoughts, to hear the ideas about spirituality that anyone might have. I don’t keep my ears closed. Anyway, Joyce Meyer made one statement that imprinted itself in my mind, and I would like to share that thought with you.
Nobody now or in the future is capable of committing a mistake that is unpardonable by God. You cannot commit any mistake that God will not pardon. This means that whatever we say or do is trivial in the sight of God. To Him, any and all are pardonable. Don’t think that you are unpardonable. Don’t think of yourself as a sinner, as dishonest, or as a drunk. Stop that nonsense! Stop it because we need to learn to accept ourselves.
Whatever mistakes we may have made are pardonable. Self-condemnation is very bad for either a materialist or a spiritualist. If a materialist, a scientist, goes on condemning himself, he will end up a failure. If a spiritualist condemns himself continually, he will become agnostic. Therefore, self-condemnation should not be in our minds at any time!
What is the next point about which you should be careful? Be careful not to consider death as inauspicious. We consider death a tragedy, as the end of life, as something that should not happen to anyone; but this is not true! Death is as auspicious as birth. Death is not inauspicious. It is not a tragedy. Death is as auspicious as birth. Death is a celebration. That’s why when saints and seers pass on, nobody cries. When saints die, nobody cries because the saint has simply withdrawn from their body. This is not something to lament.
Death should be a celebration. Man starts dying from the moment of birth. If you think that being 65 years old means that 65 years are gone, then they you are dead already. You cannot repeat your 30th year now. It is not available on any cassette for you to rewind and replay. Yesterday is dead, and the day before yesterday is forgotten.
Moment after moment, the process of death continues on, while always ahead is another moment to be born. Tomorrow is to be born and yesterday is dead. Arriving moments bear birth and moments that have passed by speak of death. Now, which moment is more important? Is 10:45 the most inauspicious? Is 10:50 most auspicious? This is mad! It is not like that. Birth and death are inevitable. One leads to the other. One is the corollary of the other. So, do not fear death. It is not to be worried about. A spiritual man will never fear death.
Swami Vivekananda gave a discourse in Chicago at which he was asked, “Swami, what has to be always borne in mind? What has to be remembered throughout life?”
And do you know what he said? Swami Vivekananda answered, “Death.”
Startled, they responded, “Death is to be remembered? Whether you remember death or not, it will happen. So why should you remember it?”
Vivekananda said, “When you remember death constantly, you will develop detachment. You will not be tempted to be bad or sinful. You will never be arrogant or egoistic. You will never be selfish, because the constant thought of mortality all the time will keep you vigilant and careful. Therefore it is the most auspicious thing to remember.”
In one of his talks, Sadhu Vaswani from Pune said something very interesting. A tragedy had taken place in a family. The head of that family had died. This left everyone crying for the departed soul, who meanwhile was wondering, “Why do they cry? After all, my body was sick, in terrific pain. My eyes could no longer see; my ears could no longer hear; my mind could no longer think or remember. When I died, this soul was made free from that diseased body! So when this soul is made happy, why are they crying?” What a beautiful thought this is! The soul will feel very sorry for the relatives who are crying around the corpse left behind, because the soul has been made very happy.
When my coat is full of black stains, I throw it away. If people then feel sorry for the cloth, what am I to do? So the body is given up, but remember that the soul is eternal. It is made ready to acquire a fresh body. It is going to possess a new, healthy body -- one more beautiful, more handsome, more functional, more dynamic, and more active. Why should people feel so badly about the body that ceases to be functional and has become a burden to the soul itself? Out of compassion, we can serve the body; but the loss of the body is not to be lamented. The loss of the body is to be celebrated.
So, death is a celebration, a festival. When a saint (or anyone) loses their body, it is cause for a celebration. This is the thing that has to be borne in the mind.
Some of you have got funny ideas about meditation. Some people say, “When I meditate, I feel red colours, or I see blue colours.” I recommend to these people that they consult an ophthalmologist. (Laughter)
Some say that in meditation, “I feel a cool breeze coming toward me.” Please check to see if you are very close to an air conditioner! (Laughter)
Some say that in meditation, “I see angels moving about.” Please consult a psychiatrist. (Laughter)
Some say that in meditation, “I am transported to the other world”. Sunita Williams has gone all by herself into space, but not by meditation. If she meditated to get there, she wouldn’t have returned.
My friends, what is meditation? Is it travel to any other place? Is it about anything beyond the body? Some people say it’s the astral body. You don’t know about this body, so how can you speak of the astral body? Please take care of this physical body, as it has to live here for some more time still!
So what is meant by meditation? Is it trying to get to something new? To imagine pictures, figures, or personalities? What is it? Let me tell you what Bhagavan said, or what Ramana Maharshi said. Ramana Maharshi’s views and Baba’s views on this are exactly the same. So what is mediation?
Meditation is a moment of being nowhere. You are not going anywhere. You are not being anywhere. Let me call it a moment of ‘nowhereness’. Nowhereness is the quality of meditation. Nowhereness means that you are not here, nor are you there. You are not anywhere. You have gone beyond time and space. Nowhereness is a necessary quality of meditation.
Awareness is the second quality of meditation. What I you mean by awareness? Awareness means that while I am in the meditative state, I am not the body, mind or intellect. I am the eternal Self, the unending witness beyond name and form. In meditation, I am the immortal Truth. That is awareness. Beyond the body, mind and intellect lays awareness, and this awareness is accessed in meditation.
The third quality of meditation is thoughtlessness (being free of thoughts). When there are thoughts, it is not meditation. I sit for meditation, yet my thoughts may be on this evening’s darshan. I may sit for meditation, but my thoughts may be on a TV serial or on the menu for tonight’s dinner. So long there are thoughts in my mind, I am still moving toward meditation and am not yet in meditation. Meditation is a state of thoughtlessness, a thought-free state, a no-mind state. This is an essential quality of true meditation. So my friends, nowhereness, awareness and thoughtlessness are the three qualities of true meditation.
We are very happy to be in the company of worldly people. Let us accept that truth. If somebody speaks of flats in the village of Puttaparthi, we immediately wonder whether the price is two lakhs or three. If somebody mentions the latest arrivals at a store, or wants to debate the merits of the various flavours of ice cream that can be had, we are very much interested in discussing these worldly things. If we encounter a spiritual seeker, however, we are afraid of them. We are afraid of a spiritual seeker, but we want to be close to a materialist. Why?
Spirituality takes you to a place that you do not know, whereas a materialist will speak of things that you know and can see. We are more comfortable with that which is known and familiar. A known thing is often more welcome in meditation, as again it is comfortable, and we all want to be comfortable when we are in meditation. So we are not necessarily seeking Truth in our meditations.
Even in our spiritual journey, we want to experience known things. I think you will agree with me. We want to experience that which is known to us even on our spiritual path. So, what is known?
I want a promotion in my life, so I pray, “Oh Baba, please give me that. I have some property, but please double the size of my property. Let all my children get married, get visas, and go abroad.”
These are all known things. So even while on the spiritual path, we want known things. But spirituality, like the flowing river, takes you to an unknown destination. Yet we may be afraid to go to that mysterious realm. We are afraid to go into a field that is unknown to us. For example, you know this road will take you here, but if I take you to an unknown forest, you will say, “Please go now. I prefer to take the road I know now. Perhaps we will go to your mysterious forest another day.”
We don’t want to go in a direction that we don’t know. We want to go in a direction that we do know. What we know is our worldly pursuits, desires and thoughts, and therefore we even make these worldly things the stuff of our spiritual prayers and journey. So we are confused because we have made our worldly experience part of our spiritual path. Why have we done this? We have done so because things here in the world are known to us. I get a promotion and I know what that means. If I get more money, I know what that means. If I allow the river to flow around me, however, I don’t know what it will look like or where I will be taken. So we are afraid of the unknown.
You may then ask, “Why is the spiritual path unknown and why are worldly pursuits known?” The world is known through the mind. It is the mind that knows. The mind takes what its eyes see, what the hands touch, what the nose smells and what the ears hear in the world. It processes this information as knowledge. It is the mind that knows that the ears and eyes and can only perceive. The mind processes these senses and decides what something is and how we feel about it. All of our knowledge of the world is known through the mind.
Spirituality, however, is beyond the mind, and so it is unknown, or perhaps I should say, it is therefore unknowable. You can try to know something if it is knowable, but this you cannot know because it is unknowable. Am I clear? So we are afraid of all that is unknowable.
“How is it going to be? Is it going to horrify me or terrify me? No! Let me ask Baba to give me vibhuti, because that is known.”
Therefore my friends, we should understand that we are afraid of true spiritual searching, even though we say that we are seekers and act religious. We are not the true seekers because we are not prepared for that unknown experience. We are not prepared for that unknowable experience. Why? We don’t want to take the risk. We simply don’t want to take the risk. Who knows? I may find this or it may be that . . . but this ice cream I know, so I will get it. We are afraid of the unknown; the spiritual, being beyond the mind, is unknown and unknowable.
What we are all searching for today is only the fulfilment of desires. Most of us are here in Puttaparthi because we want certain things done, or because we have our personal agenda. We are not here for the unknown, but for the known. It is for the known that we are here -- for the fulfilment of our desires. But let us be careful, because desires will ultimately make us neurotic. Life was not given to us so that we might be neurotic. Life was given so that we might enjoy it. Life is poetry! Life is a song; it has to be melodious. I shouldn’t want to make life a neurotic, psychotic journey, but my endless desires will ultimately create exactly that. On the other hand, desirelessness will make me spiritual and free. The true spiritual state is a desireless one.
If I have not enjoyed this day, I have not lived this day. If I have not shared beauty today, I have not lived this day. Every day has to be lived joyfully, beautifully, blissfully, with all smiles. Let us enjoy every day beautifully. Let us celebrate every day as a festival. Life is not a marketplace. Life is a place of bliss. Life is to be enjoyed every day.
If you say, “I enjoy provided that…” then it is gone; or you say, “I enjoy if…”, then it is gone. No ifs or buts. No! Let us enjoy this moment totally. Let us be careful about our view of our life. Life is a carnival of joy. Life is full of bliss, but unfortunately we make it serious. We make life so complicated. To see life in this way is so simple.
After all, let us not give too much importance to our mind because it will never keep quiet. I can ask a seva dal man to make another man be silent, but I cannot make my mind silent. I can make you silent, but my mind is always talking. So we are giving in too much to our mind. I think we have to analyse, contemplate and meditate so that we will not follow our mind too much. Too much mind is nothing but an excess, an exaggeration.
As a simple example, if I have high blood pressure, my mind immediately thinks, “You have high blood pressure now, and it will continue to be high tomorrow. In six months, it will be full of sugar; then after one year, there will be abscesses. After two years, my hands will be removed, and after three, one leg will be removed. Finally, after four years, I will lose the other leg!”
The bloody mind does it. The mind does it. Suppose you lose ten rupees today, then your mind will say, “You may lose a hundred rupees tomorrow. You may lose a thousand! You may lose the whole house! You may lose your life!” So, excess exaggeration is a quality of the mind. Some people say, “I’m not like that.” But that fellow doesn’t know what the mind is. Never mind that person.
The mind may also think positively. Swami looks at me, and Swami talks to me, so the mind will think, “I am very important. Swami spoke to me. Oho! I see. I am a very special devotee! A unique devotee! I am a VIP! I am very important! My birth is now reserved permanently in heaven!” So, the mind exaggerates, be it to this side or that. The mind goes on and on exaggerating. We find ourselves egoistic when it is positive and frustrated when it is negative, but both of these are due to nothing but our imagination, a creation of the mind. These are excessive exaggerations of the mind. Let us not be too aligned with the mind.
How do we avoiding aligning with the mind? By living in the moment! “Swami, I am happy now. Bhagavan, I am healthy now. Bhagavan, I am comfortable now. Thank You, my Lord.” Live in the moment! That’s all. That is the way to get out of the clutches of the mind. Just live in the moment, in the present. This is the way to escape the bondage of the mind, to avoid egotism and frustration. This is the secret. Let us be careful.
Let us also be careful of another thing. Don’t try to be anything. Most of our lives are spent trying to become someone or something. When you try to be something, you want to be something more. But when you get that, you still feel empty. To become something is foolish. To be something is madness. Don’t try to be anything because you are everything.
Baba once opened his palm and asked, “What is this?”
Somebody said, “Nothing, Swami.”
So Swami said, “Ah, this nothing is everything!”
Therefore my friends, by trying to be someone or something, you have missed the beauty of life. By being something, you have missed the taste of this moment. Suppose right now I have some very interesting items to eat, but I also want to be someone -- a VIP or someone in charge of the veranda. When I spend my time thinking of being in charge of the veranda, I don’t think of the nice items on my plate. Somebody may then ask me, “Why don’t you eat?” But even if I eat, I will still be thinking of the veranda, since I am not in charge!
So, by trying to be something, you miss now, this moment of joy, this moment of bliss or ecstasy. Therefore, let us not try to be anyone or anything. Let us be simple. Let us be humble. That is everything. Nothing is everything. That is the correct attitude, the temperament that a true seeker should have.
Some people may say, “I want to be near God. Why do you say that I am wrong? I want to realise God. Why do you think I am wrong?”
The answer simply is this: You are God, so why do you want to become something, when your heaven is right here, right now? Your happiness is here, waiting for you in this heaven. Why do you want something else? Therefore, when you are God, you are liberation and Truth. When you are bliss, what is it that you want to become? There is nothing to become, so don’t try to become.
With this intention, I close this morning’s satsang. Let us not try to become anything. There is nothing in becoming. There is everything in being. Being is more important than becoming. Just being what you are, not that which you were and not that which you will be.
Let us be in our being. God bless you. Thank you. Jai Sai Ram.
Anil Kumar concluded his talk by chanting the bhajan, “Bhaja mana Narayana Narayana Narayana…”
OM…OM…OM…
Asato Maa Sad Gamaya
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya
Mrtyormaa Amrtam Gamaya
Om Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti