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The Sunday Talk Given by Prof. Anil Kumar
“Time Management”
June 21, 2009
OM…OM…OM…
Sai Ram
With Pranams at the Lotus Feet of Bhagavan,
With thanks to Swami once again for releasing our new publication, the book with the title Alarm Bells Divine. Alarm Bells Divine is the latest book released by Bhagavan containing the inner significance of many festivals that are celebrated here, which we have discussed in our Sunday satsangs. Thanks to Swami. And we are also making attempts to bring out the remaining volumes too. Perhaps this is all an attempt to classify Bhagavan’s discourses under different headings for easy study and reference. I am so glad that Swami has been encouraging us in this effort.
A Mind full of thoughts wastes our time
Well, one question that often strikes our mind is how do we spend our time? Do we spend our time usefully, or do we waste our time? Hence, our topic for today is “Time Management”. Time is more valuable than money. Money may come and go; but time gone does not come back. Are we wasting our time? Or are we spending our time usefully?
Well, we may say that we have our eyes closed in meditation, are sitting straight, and are not talking to anybody. So we are not wasting our time. But the brain, or the mind, is like a fish market. It is full of thoughts like Connaught Place in Delhi, or Koti Centre in Hyderabad. We are so busy with thoughts that we waste our time. So even if one might close one’s eyes, being full of thoughts amounts to wastage of time. Alright, how else do we waste our time?
Anger is A waste of time
We waste our time by anger. We may be angry with someone. “You did not say ‘Sai Ram’ to me yesterday. You did not smile at me. You did not oblige me the other day.” These are all small quarrels, misunderstanding, or bickerings, which also create a sense of anger, and cause us to waste our time.
Anger is of two types: suppressed anger and expressed anger. I may not shout and even I may smile. Yet, there may be a lot of anger within me. Gas cylinders are so big; they don’t make any sound but are full of gas inside. Similarly, I may smile, or walk, or pet, but there may be a lot of anger within me. This is suppressed anger. On the other hand, some people may shout at you, be violent towards you, or simply beat you up. This is expressed anger.
But all of us have anger within us. If anyone says, “I do not have anger in me at any time till this day,” he or she must be leading the life of a deadwood, or a white wall, which is never angry with anybody. A non-living entity! So anger is there for some reason or the other.
Sometimes we are angry with God also. “I came here, and settled here. What kind of living quarters have You given me? I have no place to move about in these quarters. I have no place to keep my books. I cannot have my children here because it is so small that they have to sleep under the sofa set. What kind of life have You given me?” Some may be angry with God also.
Sometimes you may be angry with God because you talk to those people who come and go. You don’t look at those people who have settled here and bear all the discomforts that are here. You may have your own reasons to be angry with God. We can settle our scores with people sometime or the other if we are angry with them. But we lose in being angry with God. You have to pacify and calm down slowly; you have to adjust. There is no other way.
Be that as it may, both expressed anger and suppressed anger waste our time. In one way, expressed anger is better than suppressed anger. Suppressed anger ruins our health. Blood pressure shoots up. So it’s not worthwhile to suppress anger. It’s better to shout and express the anger totally. There ends the matter.
JEALOUSY WASTES our time
The second factor that wastes our time is jealousy. “I want to be like you.” We forget the fact that nobody can be like somebody else. You are what you are. Be happy with what you are. There is story about a quarrel between a rat and a mountain with a forest. The mountain said to the rat, “Look here rat, after all, what are you in comparison to me? I have got the wild forest over me. I am very high. Rat, what are you in front of me?”
The rat laughed and said, “Oh mountain, you are very big. You have got a wild forest and greenery. But you cannot crack a nut like me!” (Laughter) Therefore a rat should be happy with what it is. A mountain should be happy with what it is. Therefore, my friends, jealousy is one thing that unnecessarily wastes our time.
If Swami talks to somebody, we get jealous of that person. On inquiry, you come to know that the person is suffering from cancer. Therefore Swami is talking to him. Would you like to have cancer? Therefore, my friends, because of jealousy we waste a lot of our time.
Suppose a man sings very well, and is a good singer. What is the point in feeling jealous of him? I cannot sing like him; it is impossible. God designed him as a singer. He designed me as a speaker, as a teacher. He designed someone as an electrician. He designed the other person as a carpenter. He designed some others as a goldsmith, a potter, a photographer, a journalist, a politician, and a minister.
We are designed to be different
We are designed in a way which He decides. Our job is to find out our ‘design’ and get reconciled with it, or to improve upon the way in which we are designed. I am designed to be a teacher. I am ordained to be a teacher. I am destined to be a professor. Okay. There is no point in feeling that I should have been an education minister. Had I been a minister, the government would have lost the election in two minutes! I am unfit to be a politician.
So there is no point in trying to be what you are not. There is no point in being jealous of those whom you think are great. No, no. That person may be jealous of you because he may be thinking that he has so much, but is not as happy as you. “I have got a very high position, but I am not able to smile like him.” Even having a smile will make people jealous of you. Or having a good dress will make people jealous of you.
You don’t need to have only money to make people jealous of you. It is not necessary. If you are happy, you will have enough people jealous of you. Why? Because they cannot be happy. What to do? Therefore, my friends, jealousy is a meaningless aberration or weakness of the mind. So, as a solution, let us find out our own strength.
Jealousy is meaningless
You have some skills that I do not know of. I have some skills that you may not be know of. But all of us are skilled. All are skillful. One may be very tall. One may be very short. So the tall person need not feel very great because the short one is very fair. And if the tall one is not as fair, it is not unfair. So what one has, the other may not have. We think the other person is happy. But he thinks that you are happy. So he cries and you also cry. It is a beautiful music, a chorus of crying.
So jealousy is a meaningless mental weakness. Some people express, some people suppress. Because of jealousy, some people may ask you what do you think of yourself? I don’t think of myself. Why should you bother what I think of myself? Please think of yourself.
Suppose that you are well dressed. Someone may ask, “What’s the matter today?” Why are you bothered? It matters to me, not you. Therefore both expressed or suppressed jealousy also engages time.
Birbal’s wit
Baba gave one example. It seems Akbar was in the court as an emperor on the throne. And Birbal was his favorite, full of humor and wit, with ready answers. Akbar put a question to Birbal: “Look here, you think you are intelligent?”
“Your Majesty, I think so.”
“I will give you a simple question to decide if you are intelligent or not.”
“Okay, your Majesty.”
“You have hair all over the body, but no hair on the palms. Why?” Good question. Because we never wanted hair there, and we never asked the hair not to be here. It is not our choice. So the king asked him, “Oh Birbal, take yourself as an example. You have hair all over the body, but no hair on the palms. Why?”
Birbal, being an intelligent man, thought for a minute and said, “My Lord, I receive so many gifts from you with my palms. So there is no time for the palms to grow hair.” (Laughter) The king was happy with his answer and gave Birbal a few more gifts.
The king became wiser now and asked, “Then why don’t I have hair on my palms?”
“Good question, my Lord. But the answer is simple. You go on giving endlessly. So there is no time for the hair to grow.”
“Oh! Good answer.” And the king gave him few more gifts.
Then king asked him another question: “Hey Birbal! You seem to cheat me. Why does everybody else not have hair on their palms? Why?”
“Oh King! When you are giving gifts to me, others are feeling jealous of me and press both their palms against each other continuously. So there is no hair there.” (Laughter)
This is what Baba told in His discourse. Anil Kumar is not capable of these stories. It is Swami’s patent. So jealousy is a factor that engages us and wastes our time.
And now, let us come to other factors. The first factor which causes us to waste our time is anger, whether it be suppressed or expressed. The second factor is jealousy, again suppressed or expressed. The third factor is the endless flow of thoughts.
AN Endless flow of thoughts wastes time
One time I think of my childhood. Another time I think of my college romantic days. Then I think of my profession. Then I think of those people who have harmed me in my profession, ambitions, or aspirations. It is estimated that one may have about 60,000 thoughts per day!
In Los Angeles airport or Chicago airport, one flight lands every 10 seconds. But this airport of our mind can land 1000 thoughts at a time! There is no traffic jam, and no ground control. So thoughts do waste our time.
Fear is useless and wastes our time
Finally, the other factor that wastes our time is fear. Why? Because fear is a useless factor in our mind. Why? A simple example: somebody asked me yesterday, “Mr. Anil Kumar, if you are asked to go out, what will you do?”
I said, “I will go out. There’s nothing to be done. Go out. That’s all.”
“Then where will you go?”
I said, “I have my house there that I have not sold out still. I will go back. No problem. Just because you may be asked to go out tomorrow, should you start worrying from today?”
I met another man. He said, “I have chosen an area of work where there is no retirement. So I can continue there even after retirement.”
I said, “If you are to leave this world, or if you are to go, what will you do then?”
See how many unnecessary thoughts. Because that man wants to impress upon me, he said, “You have to go after retirement. But in addition to this work, I have chosen some other work also, so that I don’t have to go anywhere.”
Then I said, “When the whole of your personality may be transported to other planet, what will you do then?”
So fear is a useless thing that wastes our time. “My boss may harm me.” Why do you bother about tomorrow? “He may get himself harmed in the process.” We fear that our friends may occupy our position. We fear our future. “Will this money be enough if I fall sick?” Why should you be bedridden at all?
When the future is unknown, why don’t you think the best of the future? Since the future is unknown, why do you think only the worst may happen? “Ten years ago I fell down and had a fracture. So next year I may have a fracture again.” All right, invite fracture everyday! Therefore, my friends, fear is a very cheap quality. Cats are better than men. A cat is afraid of others, but man is afraid of himself.
Therefore, my friends, time management means not to be fearful. Baba says, “Why fear when I am here.” Nobody can stop you. Nobody can make you lose anything. Nobody can stop your advancement. Nobody can stop your progress. Nobody can come in the way of your good name and your popularity. Impossible! Because He is there by your side. So fear can be overcome by feeling the support of God.
Why fear when Baba is by your side?
Past has happened as He designed it. Present is happening based on the past. Future will happen because He is the controller of time. He is the manager of time. So if we depend upon Him, we need not be fearful anymore.
We can be free from jealousy if we are aware of our own strength. You are a scholar. Good. Another person is very good in electronics. Still another is very good in singing. So let us find our own strength. One man is very happy in the process of meditation, by remaining silent and withdrawing within himself. A meditator should not feel jealous of a person who is a bhajan singer.
Bhajan singer cannot feel jealous of a meditator. This is the path designed for you. I cannot say my path is better than your path. I should never think my path is better than your path. Each one has got his own design. Different people may be suffering from the same disease. But a doctor may prescribe different medicines to them.
Different treatments for different people
Four people may be suffering from stomach ache. One person may be asked to fast that night. Another person may be given some mixture to drink. A third person may be given an injection. The fourth person may be taken into the operation theatre and operated upon. Even though all four have stomach ache, the treatment is different for each.
Similarly, the path that suits you, the procedure that suits you, the way that is convenient for you depending upon the samskaras of your previous life, that path you can get tuned into more easily. Suppose that I am good as a teacher. Let me improve my quality as a teacher. If instead I leave my teaching job and try to be an accountant, what will happen? The company I work for may go bankrupt.
When I was about to retire, a very important man asked me, “Mr. Anil Kumar, will you join that organisation? We want you there.”
I said, “Sir, please take me there. But please know that I do not know anything about accounts. So if you take me there, you will invite problems. Also, I am unfit to keep anything confidential. Your department requires secrecy. Your department needs confidentiality. I am unfit for that because I am ABC, Anil Kumar Broadcasting Corporation! (Laughter) If anything comes to my notice, ABC is faster than BBC! So I am unfit. So don’t put yourself to any inconvenience and don’t embarrass me.”
Then he said, “What are you going to do?”
“I will continue to teach; what is there? I have been teaching all these years. I will continue.”
Therefore, we can be free from jealousy if we know our strengths.
How can we manage these negative qualities?
How we can manage jealousy? How we can manage fear? How can we be free from anger? Time management. There may be some anger within me always. There is a person who is responsible for me not getting a promotion. There is some person who is responsible for me not getting increments in my job. So naturally, there is anger.
The moment I see him, I think of all that he has done to me. Naturally! The mind is always like that. Particularly it remembers negative things over positive things because we have developed that kind of mind over our past lives.
We forget all the good deeds done by others. But we remember the least of harm that is done to us. Our minds are like that, and we can’t help it. So, how to get over this? A beautiful idea is given by Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. Please understand. Paramahamsa said, “Don’t say that he is a bad man, and that he has put me into difficulty. ‘He is a bad man for not promoting me.’ Don’t say that. He is not a bad man. God made use of that bad man to correct you and to make you better.”
God made use of man to correct you
God made use of that bad man to improve your quality of tolerance and forbearance. So God has made use of that instrument. So who is bad now? He is helping me. So I should thank those ‘bad’ men first.
Then somebody asked Swami, “I can be corrected by good people. Why do I need bad people?” Our people are very intelligent. Our people can question gurus also, not only now but from the beginning. Paramahamsa is the greatest intellectual, the teacher of teachers. Looking at the smartness of the fool, he smiled and said, “A broomstick sweeps the floor better than a Kanchivaram silk saree. Can you sweep the floor with silk sarees? Broomstick is the best. Similarly, bad people are the best to correct the bad qualities in us. A bad person will sweep off all the badness in me. God cannot take a good fellow, a Kanchivaram silk saree, to sweep the bad qualities in my heart.” That person kept his mouth shut. You cannot question a master. A Divine master masters your mind first and then corrects you.
Therefore, my friends, there are no bad people at all. They are used as instruments to correct us. Knife is bad because you think it cuts the body; same knife is used by the doctor to operate. So is knife good or bad?
We don’t retaliate
A doctor cannot use butter or ghee or honey in the place of knife. An operation is an operation. Therefore, my friends, let us not be worried about those who put us to humiliation. Let us not be worried of those who insult us, who put us to shame. Let us take it that they all help us in the course of evolution. They all help us for our advancement, for our progress. We don’t retort, we don’t react, and we don’t retaliate.
These are the four factors that waste our time. Therefore, my friends, let us all decide not to be angry with anybody. But this is a fact that most of you may not like. Those young girls trained by mother-in-law at home are very successful in their later life because a mother-in-law will polish them very nicely. So a mother-in-law is a very good grinder, so she will be a successful house wife later. So let us not blame mother-in-law. Idli cannot be made without grinding rice.
If the girl is independent right from the day of her marriage, I don’t think that she is successful. I don’t think so. She needs some training. (Laughter) We people in Prashanthi Nilayam are not bothered, we are sufficiently trained. Seva dal man may ask you to sit here, other man may ask you to sit there, and some other man may tell you to get out.
We are very good sadhakas: Sama Sukha-Dukham Dhiram. We are calm, equal in pain and pleasure. We are not bothered. Yesterday I saw one gentleman. A seva dal person was shouting at him. This man simply walked on; he did not mind the seva dal at all. Then I thought he is a Sthithaprajya (one who is free from all desires and stable in the Truth). (Laughter)
Then I met him later, so I asked this gentleman why he was walking away like that. He said, “Seva dal is like that, and I am like this. So what? He is doing his job and I am doing my job!” (Laughter)
“Aha! You are a maharshi. Your way of life is like an upadesa to me!” (Laughter)
Therefore, my friends, let us manage our time; let us not waste our time because of these silly factors. What is the impending danger if we waste our time? “Alright, I waste my time. Why are you bothered?”
What happens if time is wasted?
I am wasting my time because things are not under my control. What shall I do? Why, even if time is wasted what is the harm?
First, the immediate harm (while wasting time on silly factors like fear, jealousy, anger, and meaningless thoughts) is this: loss of attention and concentration. Many people say, “I am not able to concentrate.” Who is responsible? God is not responsible. Did God say not to concentrate upon Him? He didn’t say that. Did God say concentrate in the early hours of the morning? There are some people who say, “I can concentrate in the early hours of the morning. Then what to do rest of the day?”
We do not have attention. As a student, he is not able to concentrate on studies. As an employee, he is not able to concentrate on his job. So we have no concentration in any field. The face is the index of the mind, so look at the face. A man of concentration and a man of no concentration will have different expressions on their faces. So we can easily find out if they have concentration or not.
As teachers we know that, because we have been teaching for a long time. Well, I have been teaching for 46 years. This is my 46th year as a professor. I can easily tell which person is following and which person is not following. A student may look at me, but I can tell what he is thinking about.
Therefore, my friends, we have no concentration because these factors are wasting our time. Even if I have no concentration, what is the harm? “Alright, I can’t concentrate. Let me not bother about it; I will concentrate now and then.” What will happen?
What happens with lack of concentration?
Lack of concentration is the cause for birth and rebirth. According to Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi, incessant flow of thoughts leads to birth after birth. Somebody sought some more clarification on this.
Then Ramana Maharshi explains: thought is the cause for birth. We have 60,000 thoughts per day, as per rough calculation. It is roughly calculated by a westerner that there are 60,000 thoughts per day. And one thought is enough for one birth. When you have 60,000 thoughts per day, and we live for 70 to 80 years, how many lives we have to take? How many times we have to be born again and again?
Therefore, my friends, time is wasted because of these four factors already mentioned earlier, and this will lead to a loss of concentration. The absence of concentration causes any number of thoughts to spring up in our minds. That happens to be the main cause for repeated lives, the cycle of birth and rebirth.
God acts based on attributes
Here we have to understand one factor. Somebody asked Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, “Oh Bhagavan, you say God is present in everyone. Alright, why is a tiger so cruel? Why is a deer so humble? Why is a cat fearful? Why is a dog faithful? Why is a lion ferocious? Why? God is in everyone. The snake bites. Do you think that God is there in the one that hisses, the one that harms, the one that kills? Do they also have Divinity within? How do you justify this, Master?” This is the question put to Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
What a beautiful answer He gives! “God is there. He performs. He acts based on our attributes, our qualities, and our gunas. Gunas or attributes or qualities or traits are functional and operative. They manifest and express because of Divinity. Attributes cannot function independently.”
Bulb is red in its color. It will give red color all over. “Oh bulb, you seem to be an idiot. Why do you shed red light everywhere?” The bulb has no answer. Suppose that the fan is not revolving. You don’t get breeze. “Oh dirty fan, what are you doing? I am not getting any breeze now.” The same answer will be given by all the electronical gadgets. Only one word—what is it? Electricity. Electricity is the cause for the red light there. Electricity is the cause for a breeze here.
Well, I don’t know anything. There may be bestial quality; there may be animal quality, what we call thamasic quality. Thamasic quality is animality. We don’t have to speak further on animality because we have sufficient quantity within each one of us; only the percentage differs. Those who say, “I don’t have any” are full of animality only. We are not here to believe such people.
So there is sufficient animality or thamasic quality within every one of us. This thamasic quality cannot express, cannot manifest without Divinity. It may be a red colored bulb or a blue colored bulb or a yellow colored bulb. Without electricity, it cannot function. Bulbs alone cannot shed light. Colors may be different, but electricity is the same.
Similarly, for thamasic quality, let us call it some blue bulb or any colored bulb. Divine electricity is responsible. Therefore, the ferocious tiger has got God within. Hence, the tiger could afford to be wild in its nature. Tigers are wild because of the Divinity within. Or else the tiger would be like a cat. The lion is so ferocious because of the Divinity within. So, thamasic quality is functional because of Divinity.
The second quality or trait is rajasic mentality. Ambition, desire, running after recognition, trying to compete, dominating, feeling proud, having a Himalayan ego—these are all wonderful expressions of the rajasic quality. Again, we have sufficient percentage of the same in each and every one of us. No one is an exception. If someone says that he or she is not rajasic, that person does not know what rajasic quality is!
Therefore, my friends, this rajasic quality, this emotional, ambitious, desire-full nature is functional because of Divinity again. If there is no Divinity, rajasic quality cannot function. You find some tool that cuts wood into pieces in big shops where furniture is made, where wood is cut into pieces—an electric saw. It goes on cutting the wood into pieces. You might say, “Oh, what a rajasic quality, cutting wood into pieces!” It will respond, “Please talk to electricity. You stop electricity and I will keep my mouth shut; I am not responsible.” Even the drilling machine will say, “Consult electricity for I am not responsible.”
Therefore, machines may work and discharge certain functions that you may or may not like, that you may or may not need. Therefore, this rajasic mentality, this nature of pride, ego competition, comparison, ambition, and craving for recognition, name and fame, these are all rajasic qualities, operating because of Divinity alone.
The third quality or trait is sathwic nature, pious nature, calm, peaceful, silent. These are all pious qualities. They are also functional because of Divinity. That is why Bhagavad Gita clearly says, “Sarve Indriya Guna Pasam.” There is Divinity that makes all the senses and gunas function. Sarve Indriya Vivarjitam.
Qualities are operational and expressive because of electricity, because of Atmic power, because of Divinity. This Divinity is independent of those expressions. Sarve Indriya Guna Dasam Savre Indriya Vivarjitam. It associates, but yet dissociates.
God is beyond attributes
Current flows through the wire, but wire will not get into the current. Electricity will get into the machine, but machine will not get into the electricity. Therefore electricity and electronics teach us the best Vedanta ever possible, if we are prepared to learn. Therefore, my friends, these three qualities, rajasic, thamasic, and sathwic, are operational because of electricity, Atmic power or Divinity.
Now what is our attempt, what is our role? The tiger can never become a lamb. A lamb can never become a lion. A lion can never become a cat because they are designed like that. But a man can change if he wants to. Valmiki, a robber, a person who enjoyed killing others, became a saint later on in the same life.
You cannot make a lion into a lamb. But a sinner can become a saint later. This is what sadhana is all about. Sadhana is a purposeful attempt by man to bring about transformation within. Let him understand what kind of mind he has. If he has got too much thamasic quality, he can travel towards rajasic nature through sadhana. And by further sadhana, he gets transformed into a person of sathwic nature.
Only man can transform himself
Therefore, thamasic can become rajasic. Rajasic can become sathwic. They are convertible. Only man has got that quality. Neither animals nor plants have that quality. Only the human being has got that ability to transform from one to another. So finally what should happen?
Finally you should come to that state where you realise that thamasic or rajasic or sathwic are not your qualities. No! Because electricity is not light; electricity is not breeze; electricity is not sound. It is all and yet none of these. When it is in a fan, it is a breeze. But breeze is not electricity. When it is in a bulb, it is light. But bulb is not electricity. So it is all, and yet none of these.
So, the trigunas (three gunas) are functional because of Divinity. But meanwhile, Divinity is beyond the trigunas. Sarvendriya Vivarjitam. When you think of gunadasam, there are three attributes or qualities. Vivarjitam: Divinity transcends or is beyond. What beautiful Vedanta, Sanathana Dharma, we belong to! We are legal heirs to this Sanathana Dharma, which speaks of the transcendental nature of Divinity. Therefore, our sadhana is to transcend and understand that we are beyond these three attributes or qualities.
Then someone asked Sri Ramana Maharshi, “When I know I am beyond, Master, what will happen?” We must know something must happen. “When I go for darshan, what will happen?” “When I see Swami, what will happen?”
Instead of questioning like that, please question yourself what will happen if you put your hand into a fire. Please test it. What will happen? What will happen if I put my fingers in the plug holder? Please do it. But inform people before you do that! So we want to know what will happen; we don’t want to wait. We have no patience. So what will happen?
What happens if we know we are beyonD attributes?
Ramana Maharshi says, “You will not have to be born again. You don’t have to be born again.” You will come out of the cycle of birth and death. That’s all. “When, Swami?” I told you. When you understand that you transcend these trigunas. These trigunas are not your qualities. The original, innate, inborn, latent, natural Divinity within you is attributeless. It is transcendental.
By knowing that, you don’t have to be born again. When I am not going to be born again, what will happen to me? (Laughter) So, nice to be born again! Because I know what is going to happen if I am born again, looking at my life today.
If anybody tells you that you don’t have to be born again, you don’t know what’s going to happen. Nobody has told me what it looks like, not being born again, what is called moksha. Has anyone told you what moksha is? “Sir, is it very sweet? Sweeter than rasagulla?” No one has told you. So, when I am not born, how does it look?
On the other hand, when I am born again, I know what it is going to be like because history repeats itself. Okay, I grow once again. When I grow again, I will be quite youthful. When I am youthful again, I will be highly romantic. Why not? In old age, I will be rheumatic. (Laughter) So, from romanticism to rheumatism, I know what it is. So when I have to be born again, it will be the same thing—rewind cassette, rewind action, replay.
But when I don’t have to be born, what will happen? I do not know; nobody told me. Then Maharshi explains this way. “You suffer because of life, and because you are in this body. You enjoy because of this body. So because of this birth, you pass through duality. The principle of duality can be seen in pleasure and pain, profit and loss, happiness and sorrow, success and failure.”
Dualism exists because of our life, because of our birth. This dualism is what made our life like a football. What will happen to a football? People will kick it on every side with their feet. Wonderful kicks! But once the air is taken out of the football, it is deflated. Can you kick it then? No. You have to collect it with your hands. When the football is full of air, you can kick it. With air or life, there is the body. When once there is no air, there is birthlessness, deathlessness, and immortality. What will happen? One is lifted, worshipped, respected. There will no longer by any kicks.
What happens if I am born again?
Baba gives an example of a rat that got into a mridangam. Mridangam is a musical instrument, a type of drum, which is played on both sides. The rat got into that drum. When it moves towards this side, it hears ‘thata thata’. When it moves towards the other side, it hears ‘thakdim thakdim’ until it is exhausted. What is the way out? I should come out of this mridangam, so there will be no more beatings on both sides.
Similarly, this musical instrument mridangam is life: it is the birth in which I, the rat, gets beaten on both sides, and is not able to go anywhere. When I am beaten there, I move to this side, thinking I will not be beaten here. But I will be beaten more severely here. Then I will move back towards that side. Furthermore, the beating is so much that I will remember the beating in the next life also!
When the musical instruments are playing the final beats, you see people clapping to the climax. That is our life. Imagine yourself like that. Therefore, these kinds of bumps and jumps, lashes and slashes, this kind of tossing about, this kind of oscillation like the life of a pendulum moving towards either extreme, is all because of our human birth. When once it is not there, once the mridangam is broken, what do you beat? You will beat on the lap, that’s all. You cannot do anything since the mridangam is broken.
Once Swami was enjoying a musical program, and the presenter broke the mridangam at the centre while playing it. I have not seen Swami laughing as much as He did at that time. He stopped listening to music and started laughing! (Laughter)
Therefore, my friends, we want to be free from these ups and downs of life. When we are free from pain and pleasure, what will happen?
What happens when dualities are not present?
I know pain and pleasure. When both of them are not there, what will happen? Only one thing happens. What is that one thing?
Anandaddheba Khalvimani Bhutani Jayante.
Anandam Jatani Jeevanti.
Yet Prayatiyabhisamvishanthi.
Tat Vijijnasava Tat Brahma.
The Upanishad
Taittiriyopanishad clearly says that the entire creation, the entire
universe, has originated out of bliss or ananda. The whole universe
is sustained because of ananda, bliss. The whole universe merges at
the end into ananda once again. Therefore, if there is no pleasure
and pain, what will happen? You are ananda.
What is ananda or bliss? Is not bliss pleasure? No. If you take a cup of coffee, it is pleasure. But bliss is not like that. This coffee pleasure is there so long as you sip the coffee. Later, you might say, “Oh I had coffee long ago.” But you had it just now. The pleasure finishes with the coffee. You enjoy ice-cream as a pleasure for the moment.
So this kind of pleasure or happiness which you are used to is time-bound. But bliss is unlimited. The air in a tire is limited. Air in a cycle tire, car tire, or truck tire is limited. But air all over is unlimited or infinite. So the pleasure that we have is limited, but bliss is unlimited. Limited bliss is pleasure, unlimited pleasure is bliss. Pleasure unlimited is bliss, bliss limited is pleasure.
Therefore the Vedanta clearly says that once you know you are transcendental, once you know that you don’t have anything to do with the three attributes or qualities, you will have that infinite, boundless bliss, limitless bliss, non-dual bliss. May Bhagavan help us to attain that state. Thank you very much for being with us this morning. We will continue next week.
OM…OM…OM…
Asato Maa Sad Gamaya
Tamaso Maa Jyotir Gamaya
Mrtyormaa Amrtam Gamaya
Om Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Samastha Loka Sukhino Bhavantu
Om Shanti Shanti Shanti
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