Happily We Live

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NIKHILA TANTRAS

HAPPILY WE LIVE Writer & Translator: S. Maitreya (Swami Madhusudana Saraswati) Editor: Bhairavi (Jenna Madayag)

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NIKHILA TANTRAS

Happily We live Writer & Translator: S. Maitreya (Swami Madhusudana Saraswati) Editor: Bhairavi (Jenna Madayag – U.S.) Contact us: Email: [email protected] or [email protected] Visit us: www.nikhiltantra.org or Bhairavi Nikhiltantra on Facebook First Print: Telugu (March 1993) Second Print: Telugu (April 2006)

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Dedication

Absolute ecstasy, that is truth, can be called as the God. From this ecstasy only, entire creation springs. In it, only all the living beings of this universe are nourished. Finally, all the existing beings dissolved onto it. The main stream for this book the is Upanishads, the part of the Vedic yore. He, who is the seer of this truth, the rishi’s feet, I am dedicating this book. - Maitreya

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TABLE OF CONTENTS SWEETNESS OF FRIENDSHIP ................................. .........................5 BHAIRAVI’S WORDS ................................................................... ....6 WRITER’S FORWARD .................................. ...................................8 DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE HAPPY? ...........................................14 NOT TOO MUCH ................................................................... ........18 SATYAM SIVAM SUNDARAM .............................................. ............21 THE ART OF DISTRIBUTING HAPPINESS .........................................25 WHAT DO YOU WANT? ................................................................. .32 WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? ....................................................40 BEYOND THE LOGIC ........................................ .............................43 STOP ASKING QUESTIONS ............................................... .............48 RIGHTEOUS THOUGHT AND PERFECT TALK ....................................44 BE SIMPLE .................................................. ................................48 YES, THIS TOO WILL PASS AWAY............................................ .......58 ACCEPT THE OLDER GENERATION .................................................61 NEVER STOP ............................................... ................................66 BE YOURSELF ................................................................. .............72 MY FOUR RUPEES ............................................................ ............73 YOUR BEAUTIFUL PROBLEMS .......................................................75 DON’T BE IN WILD DREAMS ..................................................... .....78 I CANNOT UNDERSTAND ..............................................................86 PROBLEMS OF THE WOMAN .........................................................91 KNOWLEDGE OR IGNORANCE .......................................................92 PLEASE DON’T TRY TO DO ANYTHING PERFECTLY ..........................96 YOU CARRY YOUR WEIGHT ...........................................................98 SAME GAUGE FOR EVERYONE .....................................................100 IN THE LAP OF THE NATURE .......................................................104 SAY NO TO “USE AND THROW” ............................................ .......106 JUST DON’T HOLD ON TO ANYTHING ...........................................108 EVERYTHING IS TUNED ............................................................. ..111 PLEASE WEEP ........................................................................ ....114 ATTENTION TOWARDS THE CAUSE ..............................................116 RUSSELL’S WAY....................................... ...................................117 AST AID ....................................................... .............................162 ALL THIS IS UNTRUE............................................ .......................165 LAST WORDS OF THE WRITER .................................................... .168 APPENDIX ............................................................. ....................170

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SWEETNESS OF FRIENDSHIP I have seen so many great people in my life, but only two people could touch my heart. The first person is Maitreya; the second person is Laxmana Yatindra. These two are like small children, so pure in heart that they think friendship is everything. However great they may be, but they think and act like small children. I feel that this is the perfect way to bring worldly people onto the path because they cannot understand the greatness of the Guru parampara, the hierarchy of the Guruhood. Here we talk about Guru and sishya, teacher and disciple. We remember from our epics, the Vishwāmitra, the Guru and Rāmachandra, the disciple. Vishwāmitra woke up early in the morning and he woke up his own disciple, Rāmachandra. It means that, as a good friend he wanted to wake up his inner reality, his dawn. That is kousalya suprajarāma. Kousalya is his mother. Suprajarāma means a good son of her. It means, “Oh great Rāmachandra, it is time to wake up because it is dawn.” When you look at such a scene, the sweetness of friendship overwhelms your heart. Vishwāmitra means the friend of this universe, that’s why this man wanted to be called Maitreya, a good friend of this world. He never had any ego. He never feels like he is a Guru, but he wanted to give the message. So the best way he found it is through friendship. How can we maintain our friendship with everyone in this society? He just talks about that in this book, in which everyone can be happy.

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When a great man with his penance acts like a friend, takes your hand in his hand, and leads you to a goal, such miracles can happen. This man wrote this book in a language which is of a friend, so there are no inhibitions or hiding. Shamelessly he can express everything. In his writing there is the beauty of nature. His language is sweet, of a friendly nature. It is touched by his penance, so beautiful, so beautiful. Oh, just enter into it then you will know it. Sometimes in the middle, some anecdotes and some stories he tells, beautiful in themselves. Actually his language itself is so sweet. You don’t have to hear all these stories and these anecdotes. They themselves have a lot of meaning. He could have separated them from this book. They can prove their worth. He doesn’t have to explain those, because they are so simple and open. Gñāna vigñāna, means normal study and experience. Mingle in it and you can feel it. This is the combination of the east and west, Western psychology touched by Eastern philosophy. He made nectar out of it. Western psychology can be completed only with Eastern philosophy. On a holy path it went on, but any simple man can understand who doesn’t know any philosophy. I hereby present the Maitreya, the good friend in your hands. Embrace him and have a good time with him. Why should I be in the middle? I want to get out of it. Be happy. Sri Mopi Devi Krishna Swami Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh, India. 19th Jan 1993

BHAIRAVI’S WORDS 6

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“Once in the realm that’s full of joy the seeing mind becomes enriched,” Saraha says. Osho wrote two volumes called “The Tantra Vision,” where he enumerates the verses of “The Royal Song of Saraha,” the founder of Vajrayāna Buddhism. And Osho says that joy exists in three planes, it exists in the body as pleasure, of the mind as happiness, and of the spirit as bliss. To exist in joy, in all of these three planes is the experience of joy. Joy is not merely a thought or conception created by knowledge, it is a full-time experience in all planes of existence. It is not even something sought after, as it is true once held deeply in the heart. Since this book is a Nikhila Tantra, it is an experience of joy in this creation. It satisfies the sensual pleasures of the body, that even while writing and editing this book, the sensation of joy is felt as any suppression held in the physical body as pain or diseases, releases itself. This release can first be distinguished as pleasure, then it is not even recognized at all. This release allows for the mind’s walls to tumble down and reveal the happiness that always existed. Just as when one is in pain, we can feel the sensation of pain. But when we are well, we don’t even remember what that sensation was, nor could we describe it properly in words. Words and language exist in the mind, and no more does the mind want to even describe it, as now we are in happiness. It is the tumbling down of the blockages of the mind that identifies so strongly with the ego, in which happiness can be left to experience. Pervading all this is the bliss of the spirit that is fed by the 7

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enriched mind. The enriched mind is not just the mind full of knowledge, as knowledge can cloud and confuse humans as well. Ignorance can be the better guide, as it can allow for the innocent mind to grasp onto concepts that the knowledgeable mind cannot. The mind, enriched and overwhelmed with innocence, bathes in bliss. This bath of bliss is never ending. We splash and play in this bath during our meditations and during the meditation that we call life. Sometimes the water is scalding hot, freezing cold, and somewhere in between. But it doesn’t matter, because the bath is still a bath, no matter what temperature we can or cannot tolerate at that moment in time.

WRITER’S FOREWORD I’m not a philosopher. I’m not a man who has gone above my basic animal instincts, but neither I live in them nor in the philosophy. I’ve accepted my drawbacks as a sincere man. I never say that these worldly pleasures are everything, nor can I say that philosophy is everything. I cannot say, just pray to the Lord and everything is all right either. But also I cannot say that no God exists, because I don’t know. I cannot give logic to everything. But it does not mean I can never ask you to give up logic and reasoning. All this is essential for the human being. My academic education ended with the 10th grade. What I studied is from the library and from my life. Of course I have done some penance, but I cannot claim that it was everything. All this which I negated or affirmed becomes our life. All this is useful to the 8

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human life. We can give up nothing. All that which is really useful for the human being, I want the human being to have to be happy. As an evolved human being, I want you to know that these subjects individually cannot fulfill the needs of the human being. When they are all put together, then it can be done “Experience is a comb which a man gets when he becomes bald,” says Emerson. But I had a comb prior to my baldness, that’s why I wanted to give this comb to the fellow beings those who have the hair. I want every human being to be happy on this earth, because it’s a beautiful planet. God never created problems; it is the stupid human being who creates it. That’s why I want you, all people, to enjoy the truth and fragrance of this beautiful nature. I have experienced that no scripture can fulfill your desires. These Communists and Socialists say the body is everything. They say if the people are given bread and butter they will be happy. They are the followers of Darwin, a great fool. He started saying that there was nothing on this earth, and then slowly the five elements took place. First, underwater creation started; a microorganism was born from fish, then fish became frog, then frog became monkey. Finally, from monkey, this stupid man came out. And with this absolute development, nothing more can be done, Darwin says. And these Communists and Socialists say that all men are equal because they are developed to the maximum extent. No, every 9

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individual’s needs, feelings, and thoughts are totally different. “It may be that men are not equal in all respects, but they are equally men,” says Hugh Gaitskell. All are not equally tall, so you want to make them equal height. You want to cut off their limbs. You cannot give numbers to the individual and count them like robots. They’re human beings, living beings. They have their emotional and psychological needs. So be careful. Never count them like sheep. Dr. Freud found some diseases which occurred in human beings that can never be cured by medicine, and from there, psychology started. His disciples, like Jung, built a big castle of psychology. They dove into the ocean of psychology, the human mind, and searched for the troubles and drawbacks of the human being. Why and what is happening to these people? That’s why they wanted to establish a good relation of human beings in this society. They felt that is the way to peace in this society. It is a good movement, but imagine, almost in every street of the United States, you can easily find one psychologist and they are treating thousands and thousands of patients. But still they could not reach a conclusion why could they not heal all the people. Then in 1913, Dr. Freud formed a society of psychiatrists, but his disciples Carl Gust Jung and Alfred Adler divided from him. They could not tune in with the philosophy of Dr. Freud, that’s why their own propagations are different. The world of psychology could not come to any conclusion. And everyday a new theory is being 10

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proposed. Yes, for anything, there should be a proper gauge. If one proposes a kilogram as a standard gauge of an object and someone else says it’s a half gauge, how can we live together? For one man, one mile is not even one mile. It is not even half a mile. So how can we tune together? How can we live together in the society? We need to have a standard scale in the society. So for that, we should have an equal proper gauge for everyone. One day I did not allow Bhairavi into the meditation room during her menstrual period. Her feelings got hurt. She thinks that during her menses, a natural phenomenon is going on which cannot be stopped, and that shouldn’t prevent anyone from worshipping anywhere and anytime. In suppressed Indian culture, a woman is considered impure and cannot do so many things, such as enter a temple. One day, a woman told Bhairavi that God is angry at her during her menstrual period, so that is why she couldn’t participate in the fire worship, and again Bhairavi was confused. So there is one scale that Bhairavi lives by, one scale that that woman lives by, and there is another scale in society. Me, I wanted to stay out of that situation and leave it up to the Absolute Scale. So, I said, let’s ask our Guru, the Absolute Scale, and let him decide. So I did, and he said Bhairavi is not allowed in the meditation room during her menstrual periods. As his servant, we cannot ask questions, and there are so many scales which we don’t know about. To fulfill this, the subject of logic came out, but it was misused by the ancient Greeks. They started thinking “I’m here, that’s why I’m thinking,” or “I’m thinking, because of that, I’m 11

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here.” This is stupidity. The human being’s emotions and thoughts are the gauge for one’s truth, what they think is right. Truth is that this entire world is impermanent. There is only sorrow, and really no bliss in it. And as long as we’re holding on to it, we will be suffering. And unless we find the ultimate goal, which is not at all changing, it is truth in itself. We have to attain it, that’s what philosophy says. We never find the Upanishad rishis, the ancient seers, neglecting this body or negating it. They never escaped from this world, and they had families. They took up the responsibilities of their families. All this false thinking started from Buddha and Shankaracharya. They said that those who are totally indulged in the senses are not trying to find the absolute truth. These people neglected the total body and its needs, and spoke about the absolute reality. Your mind is the cause of the bondage and the freedom. Based on this, nobody is trying to come out of it. Following this false philosophy, so many people are stuck in this stage. That’s why I wrote an essay in this book called “Satyam Sivam Sundaram.” Certainly you can enjoy this life when you are in your senses, but you have to grow out of the senses. In another essay, “Righteous Thought and Perfect Talk,” I have shown you how proper thinking can lead you if this logic is extended to the maximum extent. I discussed about logic, so don’t question anything in these essays I did. Even this will pass away in that essay. One can then relax because everything is impermanent. “Stop Asking Questions.” That is another essay, questioning everything. “The Art of Distributing Happiness”, in this essay you will find 12

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the main spring from which all the happiness comes out. In another essay, “Not Too Much,” you can find the analysis of all that which I have told till now. “Russell’s Way,” is the big chapter in my book. He gave some analysis, but I changed it as per my time and society. All the people cannot go through all these experiences, and they cannot understand it all easily. That’s why I’m trying to help them come out of these limitations. If one can understand it and digest it, I hope that they will come out of all their sorrow. Listen to this story about King George VI’s wife, Queen Victoria Elizabeth, who went to Toronto in 1939. They distributed white flowers upon her arrival in all the hospitals. So many years later, Lotta Denca, a woman, went to Toronto in a taxi to see her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The taxi driver was angry, and he was driving his car very fast. Lotta Denca told him to drive it slow, “It’s my son’s birthday, and I’m taking some gifts to him.” The driver said, “Today is my birthday too, but nobody gave me any gifts.” She looked at him and felt very bad, because nobody is there to look after him. Denca said, “You are exactly the same age as my son.” He said, “I’m born the same date as your son at St. Michael’s Hospital. On the same day, in same hospital, my mother and you gave birth to me and your son.”

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“Did you know about this?” she asked him. In a sorrowful face, he said, “I lost my mom in my childhood, and I don’t know anything about it.” She said to him, “Queen Victoria Elizabeth came and distributed white flowers to all of us. It was such a beautiful day.” Immediately he said, “Oh, I can remember that. My mother used to keep a dry white flower in the bible. Maybe she kept it as her sweet memory.” That woman gave a gift of sweet memory to him, which he collected for his own son. He was happy. In this world there are so many people who are in pain, agony, and suffering. Just a sweet word, a smile, a small touch, and compassion in the eyes, if you show it to them, they will be happy. You don’t have to go through so many books for this. That’s what I wanted to say in this book, nothing else. The past American president, Abraham Lincoln, went to a small village and gave a lecture. A peasant came up to him and said, “Mr. Lincoln, I couldn’t understand all of what you said, but I liked it.” Lincoln started laughing, “Even my dog has the same problem. She wants to catch all the flies. Sometimes she catches them, but she cannot get all of them. You don’t have to be depressed about it. Whatever you can catch, is enough for you.”

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All those who read my book may not be able to understand all of what I wrote, but whatever they can catch is enough for me. I cannot claim that this book is complete and that it can reveal all the secrets of nature. It is my experience and I wanted to type it in my own words. If you can make use of it, I will be happy. If at all you cannot, then I wrote one essay in this book, “All This is Untrue,” and the truth is revealed. If you can make use of this book, and can attain some happiness, I will be the first one to be happy. If you find it’s all useless, and if you scold me or curse, I will not be unhappy, because it has nothing to do with my happiness. I am in my happiness, and no one can disturb it. I have learned the art of living. I’m sorry to say that I don’t want to insult anybody, any culture, any caste, creed, or any country’s people. Hereby, I produce the naked truth, whether you like it or not. I have no reservations about it. I’m mentioning this because one Indian pointed out that I was trying to insult the Indians, and uplift the westerners. I feel that all of you can embrace this truth, as it is. “Continuous work until you are tired and total control of your mind leads to realization on the intellectual level. When the love is in the heart, you surrender your ego, and no I-ness remains, all that makes us beautiful human beings. Be happy,” says Maitreya.

DO YOU REALLY WANT TO BE HAPPY?

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“Man supports his misery, nourishes it, takes care that it does not leave because it is his only companion,” says Osho. Do you really want happiness? You may think that this is a mad question. Everyone wants love and happiness, but it is not necessarily true. Some people really want some happiness. All other people, they want luxury, not happiness. They want to sleep in comfortable beds, and have air conditioning. All they want to do is relax. I don’t know whether God exists or not. Even if He comes to them, will they receive him? I don’t know, but certainly they will allow happiness. But the problem exists with the human being is that they want to have their own homes, family, husband, wife, children and comforts, and along with that they want to have happiness. But without those things, who is going to ask for happiness? I’m unable to find these people. I’m not going to say that if you avoid all these things, you’ll have happiness. But happiness can be given to them, to those who want only happiness. If at all you want to have happiness, why should I give permission to you? Because it is your birthright, and you can have it. You may want happiness, that’s why you’re reading this book. But this book cannot give you happiness unless you realize the truth of happiness. I’m sorry, but to have the happiness, you don’t have to go through this book. I’m sorry if you are sorrowful, because life is beautiful. You can be happy. If you are still in sorrow, I feel sorry for you. Because life means happiness. I’m sorry to say one more thing, you are so capable to make it miserable, really you are. You, yourself made your life as sorrowful, full 16

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of agony, and as insulting as it is. I really feel sorry about it. That is your deed, I cannot help it. For the baby, for his happiness, there’s no cause. And for those who are grown, I cannot find anyway why they are sorrowful. If you really want to have happiness, you can have it. If you want to be sorrowful, I cannot help you. I wrote a book that said achievement is yours. One man said, “I read your book. I’m happy about it, but I could not achieve the ultimate reality.” I said, “In that book, I was talking about absolute reality. If you have not found it, I’m sorry. It means that you have achieved sorrow in your lineage.” It is true that man has attained absolute reality, but still he is sorrowful. I cannot help him. Horace said, “All your unachievements tell you about your personality. But truth remains inherent. To that be careful. All your achievements hide your personality. All your unachievements tell where you’ve failed. For our happiness, we always keep some burdens.” We think that if we have a house, we can be happy. We feel that if we marry, we’ll be happy. We feel that if our child has a job, we’ll be happy. We feel that if we have a promotion, we’ll be happy. We feel that if we have a bank balance, we’ll be happy. All this is stupid. Happiness never belongs to all these things. After completing something, we feel that we’re going to have happiness. But this is not possible. This is the mind’s trick. We may feel, let me have a computer 17

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then I’ll be happy. Then let me have a laptop I’ll be happy. Then let me have an ipod, I’ll be happy. Then you may feel, let me have a DVD player then I’ll be happy. This mind is so chaotic. There’s no end to it. We’ll get exhausted when we try to find these things. When a person wants to find something out, but he can’t because of fear, he thinks maybe he’s not qualified enough to find it out. And he feels without an ego, why can’t I do it? And for a second he may feel, why can’t I find it out? And when he cannot find it out, with that depression, how can he find the happiness? So with this weakness, astrologers are making a business out of it. Because this being is thinking about the future, he’s not thinking about the present. How can he have peace? How can he have bliss? Happiness means the present time. If you want to be happy, you can be happy without anything, without any inhibitions of the past or reservations about the future. Because you have a right to be happy. Outside aspects, other people’s desires, any kind of outside things cannot affect you, if you want to be happy. When you are all alone, it makes you depressed. But when you are in the company of so many people, that also makes you unhappy because sometimes you are unable to tune in with them. If you want to be happy, you can have it. I’m asking again the same question. Really, do you want to be happy? Because so many people want to be in sorrow. It appears very negative, but it is true, because one who is in sorrow will be consoled by so many people. In that way, one’s ego can be satisfied. 18

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If one is happy, nobody pays any attention to him. That’s why so many people create sorrow around him or her. Samuel Jackson says, “The sorrow is only a mask.” That small boy who doesn’t want to go to school, acts as if he has a belly pain. In that way, we always act as if we are sorrowful. But when we act as if this sorrow is real, it becomes real. And finally I will tell you one more thing, as long as you act as if you are in sorrow, it becomes truth. So you can never have the happiness. If at all you never exist, who is going to have the sorrow or the happiness? That’s why the man whose ego exists, says, “I want to have it”. When a man wants to come out of his sorrow because it’s too much for him, he drinks whisky; he takes intoxications so that he forgets about it. But when he wakes up the sorrow appears to him. So again I ask you, are you really interested to have happiness? So many people think that coming from the lesser problems to the higher problems is bliss. But this is not true. To get out of all that, people use intoxications. Try to come out of it. It is like half an hour of bliss and so many months of agony. Come out of it. “If you want to be happy, don’t find a fault, find a remedy,” says Henry Ford.

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NOT TOO MUCH “There is a great difference between knowing a thing and understanding,” says Charles Kerrering. Once upon a time in India, there used to be a great city called Shravasti ruled by a king named Shrona. He was a great artist, and he had a wonderful vision about nature and beauty. He beautifully molded the Shravasti town with beautiful ponds, wide roads, big trees, and beautiful gardens. In those days it was heaven on earth, the Paris of those days. Shrona used to keep so many learned scholars, poets, musicians, dancers, singers and such people in his court. He used to keep only beautiful girls to serve him and used to collect a lot of costly antiques and beautiful furniture. He used to drink only well brewed, costly wine. For twenty-four hours daily he used to indulge in luxuries, but finally he got bored. He was vexed with all the luxuries, and wanted to commit suicide. When he was going away to commit suicide he saw Gautama the Buddha giving lectures to thousands of his disciples. He saw a beautiful aura around his face, and his voice was so deep and pleasant. He listened to it, then immediately he surrendered at his feet. He asked for renunciation from him. Gautama the Buddha knew that he was indulging in worldly pleasures up to the brink, so he was hesitating on giving him the renunciation initiation. Then, Shrona the King said, “Tathā gatha. (It means he who accepts anything comes into his life as a gift as it is.) Oh Lord, I only have two paths: 20

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either I get renunciation initiation from you or I commit suicide. Please decide for yourself.” Buddha did not want to be the cause for his suicide, so he gave him the renunciation initiation. Shrona the King once went to the extreme end of indulgence in sensual pleasure, now he touched the other end of renunciation. He started negating his body. He started incurring a lot of pain to his body. He was sleeping on the thorns. In scorching hot sun he lit four sides of the fire in the middle of the day and used to meditate in it. In the time of spring and cold winter seasons, he used to put a lot of ice in a big bath, sit in it and meditate. Within six months, nobody could recognize him. He was totally changed, and his body became totally useless. Buddha came to him, and asked him, “Shrona, you used to play guitar, I heard.” Shrona said, “Yes, my Lord. But why are you asking about all that nonsense? All those sense pleasures are useless to me now.” Buddha was laughing. He said, “I don’t want to know about those sense pleasures you had. I just want to know about your guitar. If you tighten the strings of the guitar, will it really work properly?” Shrona said, “No. If you tighten them too tightly, the guitar may break.” Buddha was laughing. He said, “If at all you tighten the strings, can it play good music?” 21

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Shrona was looking at Buddha. Why is this great man asking all these stupid questions? But with respect and love he said, “Oh my lord. Good music can’t be produced if you don’t tighten the strings.” Buddha was laughing like anything. “So beautifully you have said it. When you are so intelligent to handle the guitar, how come you are not handling your body properly? If you indulge in sense pleasures too much, then this body becomes too much. If you torture your body in penance, the same thing will happen. Either you’re not supposed to tighten the strings of your body too much, nor are you supposed to leave them loose. That’s why please stop doing all this nonsense. Eat only one time per day, I won’t mind. But eat well because you have to keep your body fit. And give your body rest too. It requires it. In the name of penance you don’t have to burn your body in fire or freeze in the ice. You don’t have to sleep on the thorns. Balance everything. Certainly you’ll attain your goal of absolute reality.” In a small path, if you have thorns, glass pieces, and sharp pebbles, you should be very careful while putting your foot on that path. You should be very alert and cautious while you walk on that path. It is not possible for a drunkard. So such is the life. This life is like a clay lamp. It is made of mud. It is inert, but the flame in it which is doing the lighting is not inert. It is sentient. It is one of the five elements. And there is a wonderful link in between inert mud and a sentient flame. If you think your body is totally inert, then it is dangerous. If you think that this body is not 22

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inert, then that also is a problem. To light this flame, you need the clay lamp. It is necessary, but without a flame it has no value. Those who are skeptics, logicians, those who are non-believers of the truth, those who are totally intoxicated by the five senses, all they think is that this body is everything. To make it comfortable, to clean it, to give it a lot of luxuries, they spend their entire life. The other extreme of people, in the name of penance they go to the Himalayas and torture their bodies. If you break the clay lamp, then where are you going to light the flame? And if you go on cleaning it and don’t light a flame, what is the use of that life? This life is only a chance. How you can make use of it depends on you. If you indulge yourself up to the nose in the sense pleasures, you will never have mental peace. Or if you give up, reject the entire universe, crave for that which you never know whether it exists or not, and torture the body, then you will never have the mental peace. You can never reach your goal. Yes, you have to look after your mind and your body too. Fulfill their needs, slowly mediate to meditation. Thus, you can certainly attain the happiness in your life.

SATYAM SIVAM SUNDARAM “Attaining love is the fulfillment of life,” says Osho. Satyam is the necessity, the truth, the food. Sundaram is the beauty, the next meal after the belly. When the basic need of food is fulfilled, he goes 23

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for beauty. Sivam is the absolute reality. When satyam and sundaram are fulfilled, then he can go for the absolute reality. While food is the basic need, it may not be a spiritual need. It may be false appearance or delusion. Truth is as past, present, and future. If it is not, and appears to be in only one period of time, it is false. Maybe this life is like a dream. But the same Guru who gave a wonderful lecture about this delusion, he too has to eat. This need existed in that same person who was not grown thousands of years back. And the need is here now; then what is the difference? Maybe then he ate raw meat. Then he learned to cook it in various ways. That’s what is called as culture. The moment he started cooking the food, no more was it a need. It became a luxury. There was a king who used to ask the people to prepare the food in various ways. He used to eat it, forcefully vomit it out, and then eat it again. For him, food is not a need. It is a luxury. For the common man, food is a bodily need. If it is not fulfilled, he will be sorrowful. If he wants to enjoy it and extend too much, it becomes a sorrow for him again. Man’s second need is the mind. To fulfill it, he has to go for art. If the physical need is not fulfilled, he cannot think of anything else. Then he will look at the world for its usefulness. Once he looks at the world for his usefulness, it becomes a business for him. He will lack love and attachment. Aurangajeb was the Muslim king of India. He never cared for the arts. That’s where his entire dynasty collapsed. When you look at the world with the usefulness for you, there you will have lust and greed. Then you will lack the art. A Chinese quotation 24

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says, “We have two breads. Give away one and purchase a flower for the second one. So after the first need, which is food, the need for art and beauty comes in.” When you look at a beautiful thing, you can never resist it unless you purchase it. But once you possess it, you lose the interest in it. Once you look at a beautiful thing, you lose interest in it. But if you have the beautiful vision, then you will have a beautiful eye to look through every second.” “Senai senaihe yenna vatā mapoyate gadeva rupam lāvanyatām.” In Sanskrit, it means slowly that which creates newness, that is called as beauty. If you can look at this creation with a beautiful eye, then you can see beauty everywhere. Does it mean that beauty is only there in the eye? Is it not in the creation? Once, the great king that ruled this India was named Akbar. He said, taking his grandson onto his lap, “Can anybody be more beautiful than my grandson?” Everyone said, “No. He is the beauty of everyone in Agra.” But Birbal, Akbar’s minister, said, “No, my Lord. I know a boy who is more beautiful than your grandson in Agra (then the capital of India). If you can come with me, I’ll show you to him.” So incognito, changing their dresses, they went to the slums of Agra. On a garbage pit they saw a boy who was so ugly, so skinny with a big belly, oozing some morbid material from his nose. Akbar became very angry. 25

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“Is this the one you say is so beautiful?” he said, “I’ll cut off your head.” Birbal was laughing. “Just wait my Lord,” he said. “I’ll prove that he’s the beautiful one.” And he pinched that boy. He started weeping. From the small hut, his mother came out. “How come you have produced this child who is so ugly? I feel like killing him,” said Birbal, “I would like to crush him under my feet like a bug.” The mother of the child said, “Is there anybody more beautiful than my child? How dare you give such bad words to my boy. I’ll beat you red and white.” Saying this, she went into her hut to get a stick to beat these fellows. And all these fellows ran away from this place. Does it mean beauty is only there in the eyes? No, there are a few things in this creation like flowers, landscapes, mountains, beautiful clouds, and ocean waves which are so beautiful, that everyone likes them. That’s why artists say beauty is the objectified happiness. Not only that, happiness is the subjectified beauty. So, the beauty is there in the creation, and you should have the eye to see it. In a way, we have to say, objectified beauty when reflected in the eye, becomes happiness. When the happiness subjectifies in the creation, it becomes beauty. So it is the one truth reflected in two ways. As long as we have the mind, we’ll have the difference of the vision and the object. Once you 26

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enter into the absolute truth, there’ll be no difference. Once he realizes that he’s in the truth, looking in the beauty of the object, he can never see it. Rather, he will enter into it. There is a story in Jen philosophy. There was a great king who had this vision that he wanted to make a beautiful painting on the wall of his meditation room. He said, looking at it, “I should enter it. Could anyone create such art?” He asked all his subordinates. One old artist came out and said, “My Lord, I can do it, but I need three years of time. And you are not supposed to enter into your meditation hall as long as I will be working there.” The king accepted it, and he provided all that he needed. For three years he waited, and finally the time came. The artist took the king into the meditation room. He immediately closed the doors behind them. The king could not believe his eyes as he saw such a beautiful art on his wall. In that painting, there is a flowing river and a hill. He found so many bushes and trees. He saw a small path which is going behind that hill, and it was disappearing. The king asked him, “Where does this path lead to?” The artist said, “I don’t know, my lord.” Then the king said, “Ok, let us enter into it and try to find out the ultimate goal.” He took the artist’s hand into his hand and they walked onto the path, went behind the hill and never came back. This is the way to enter from satyam to sundaram, from the truth to beauty, 27

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this is the path. When the need of food becomes chaotic, it becomes a mental disease. But when they enter into the beauty, it can lead them to the absolute truth, sivam. So many artists end up only in beauty, but only a few can enter into the sivam. Some people, from the beauty, they enter into the gñāna path, the knowledge path. They become scholars, but that is not really the way. Finally, everybody has to reach the absolute truth. When hunger is fulfilled, man becomes satisfied. If he can enter into the happiness, that is the absolute truth. The path is beauty. In calmness, intuition gives birth to faith.

THE ART OF DISTRIBUTING HAPPINESS “It is not well: Thou has reaped and thou must sow,” by the Light on the Path. Everyone is trying and struggling to distribute happiness to others. But after all these struggles and strives, everyone is getting only sorrow and unhappiness. What is the cause of it? A husband wants to give happiness to his wife, a wife wants to give happiness to her husband, relatives want to give happiness to their relatives, and friends want to give happiness to their friends. They want to give happiness, but sorrow is still prevailing everywhere. What is the cause? Why is it happening? Because you really don’t have any happiness with you. If you want to distribute the thing that is not there with you, how can you distribute it? Every father wants to distribute happiness to his son, but he can only give 28

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pain and sorrow to him. So finally the son becomes an enemy to his father. It is said by Sigmund Freud that every son wanted to kill his father. At least once in his lifetime, the thought occurs to him. And he calls this the Oedipal Complex. As the child grows, if his mind grows and his heart grows, he may not be able to harm his father. But if he won’t grow, he may harm his father. Now we know that we don’t have happiness with us, and still we want to distribute it. But that is not the only full stop in our life. Since we don’t have it, we want to extract it from someone else. But he too doesn’t have it. How can he give it to you? It is like two beggars sitting in front of each other and begging for happiness from the opposite person. And since they won’t get that happiness, they feel that they have been cheated by each other. Each one feels like he does have the happiness with him, but they don’t want to give it away. It may appear to you that the other person has the happiness, but only you are looking at the surface. In depth, he doesn’t have it. Since he doesn’t have it, he cannot give it to you. Try to understand, nobody cheated you. You cheated yourself. Try to understand this happiness is an unending spring. If it starts, it can never end though you may distribute it on this earth. If you won’t distribute it, it will dry out. If one has it, he cannot resist himself, he will go on giving it out. But in the world of these beggars, nobody has it. When a man becomes a friend to another one, or marries a girl, everything looks so beautiful. Happiness is everywhere. We think that everyday it will grow and become happiness forever. But as you walk the path 29

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of life, it becomes full of sorrow. Because everyone is a beggar, and he feels like he’s going to get happiness from his partner. His expectations cannot be fulfilled, and they become a mirage. I’m all alone. That’s why I’m feeling sorrowful. If I invite somebody into my life, I will be happy. That’s what people think. And they go for wedlock. It’s like one who cannot sing a song and he is trying to use instruments to help his songs. When you cannot sing, try to learn how to sing. Instruments can never help you sing. But everyone wants to go into the wedlock. He feels that being with her he can be happy. But she is also full of sorrow. She cannot give you any happiness. With the same intention, she married you so she could have some happiness from you. You both are beggars. Some fools can never compromise with the facts of nature. Oh, I couldn’t get happiness with this wife, so I may try another one. He goes on changing wives, and his troubles multiply. As we have quoted in the front of the chapter, “It is not well: Thou has reaped and thou must sow,” says the book “Light on the Path,” anything can be divided into two ways. One way is to search for it. The second way is to distribute it. If one has attained happiness, and he is not distributing it, it means he has not attained it. Even the search of happiness is another delusion of this world. Because attaining of happiness is also self-centered and ego-centered. As long as you search for happiness for yourself, you will never attain it because there is ego-centeredness in it. As long as you give importance to I-ness, the ego, you will never be able to attain the absolute

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happiness, and you can never come out of your sorrow. I-ness itself is sorrow. That is pain. The second part of life, to distribute happiness in that I-ness, can never exist. Because who are you to distribute happiness? This is the work of nature, when you become nature, how can you be an individual? People think that they live because they are breathing an incoming and outgoing breath. Either you can stop inhaling or stop exhaling. It is a natural phenomenon. Once you get the happiness, you cannot restrain it, nor can you claim that you are doing it. You will become a medium in the hands of the nature. If you are unable to do it, know that you never achieved it. How can you distribute it? A man shrinks with sorrow. So many people fake sorrow to be consoled, because it is not true sorrow. What they really want is attention. But if you have true sorrow, you would never allow anyone into your life to console you because it would spread to them too. In happiness only, can man or woman open up like a lotus flower. Yes, this happiness brings fragrance to this earth. Like a lamp they will be lit, and the light from them spreads everywhere. Then, they will never have any greed. The will be happy to distribute their happiness to everybody. All the sorrowful people are greedy. They possess things like money and they embrace it. The psychiatrists say that a greedy fellow cannot even take a long breath because the moment he takes a lot of air in his lungs, he will have to exhale it. But he doesn’t want to do it because he is greedy. All these greedy fellows become constipated, because they cannot shit. Because to them, shit is the same color of gold; they don’t want to lose it. As 31

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per the mind, the body works. Once happiness enters into you, you will be so open. For anything that is asked by anybody, you will give it up. But don’t be frightened by it. As it is a spring, you will be distributing the happiness, and it will be coming up again and again. It is like well water, if you won’t use the water, it will stink. As you go on using it, it will be fresh. That’s why the book, “Light on the Path,” says, “As you have taken the essence of your grains from your field, then you are supposed to sow the seeds again.” It appears to be crazy, because you have to sow the seeds, and reap the essence out of it. Whereas you say, get the essence, then you sow the seeds. This is the crazy world. Everything appears in the opposite direction. First you take your breath in, then you exhale. So first you are supposed to have the happiness, then you can distribute it. “Sow a thought, reap an act. Sow an act, reap a habit. Sow a habit, reap a character. Sow a character, reap a destiny. Sow a destiny, and reap meditation.” This wide space, great people like Krishna, Buddha, Nikhileshwara, Paramahamsa Yogananda, and Shirdhi Sai Baba have sown the seeds. Just enter into meditation, and you can reap all that. Once you attain it, then you can distribute it. Meditation is like science, it is not a religion. It has nothing to do with your belief or non-beliefs. We are not talking about 32

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any unseen God. Almighty, all-pervasive happiness itself is the God. If you attain it, you’ll become the God. It is said that everyone desires to be with a person who does not have a desire. So this person who does not have any desires won’t be using the other person to fulfill anything. This person will fulfill their own desires. And then you can fulfill your own desires, rather than expecting that person to fulfill yours. So attain that state, and you’ll be capable enough to distribute happiness in this world.

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WHAT DO YOU WANT? “Needs can be fulfilled, but desires cannot be. Desire is a need gone mad,” says Osho. Chang Tzu is one of the eminent philosophers who ever existed in China. Once he was sitting near a river called Pu, fishing. He heard a voice from his back saying that, “Oh Chang Tzu, we have come all this way to you. And we are sent by the Prince Chu. He wants you to be his prime minister.” Chang Tzu never looked back. He said, “I heard that there is a tortoise in the palace which is wrapped in a golden cover, and I heard too that from 3000 years it has been worshipped from the king’s hierarchy. Is it true?” “Yes, it’s true,” they said, “The holy tortoise has been worshipped by the kings from an unknown time.” Then that same great man saw another tortoise which was playing in the mud, and he asked those people, “Do you think I should remain in the palace and be worshipped as a dead man or should I enjoy my life like this reptile happily playing in the mud?” Then they replied, “For the tortoise, it is better that she remains here in the mud.” Then he said, “I’m not stupid, more stupid than a tortoise to go to the palace. I’m happy.”

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What do you want? Total relaxation, mental peace, happiness, tranquility? Or every second someone may pull your chair and acquire a lot of gold, possessions, name and fame? What do you want? It is your choice. I’m not going to suggest anything for you. That life which is filled with happiness, tranquility, mental peace and happiness may not have gold, possessions or name and fame. If you want to choose that, I’m nobody to hinder you. But you will never get mental tranquility. As far as I am concerned, I want to have a happy, tranquil life, nothing else. One who is grown in the society will not have freedom. He cannot eat what he wants. He cannot live in the way he really wants. He becomes the social property. One who gives importance to name, fame and riches has to live his life as per the society. And he will lose his mental tranquility and happiness. It’s up to you to decide what you want. “Chell bullea chell othe chellyea jitte vasana sāre anne nākoyi saday jāt pachāne thena koyi sānu manne,” says Bullea. Bullea says, “Please go to that place where you will not be recognized as a great man, where no one will respect you or worship you. Also, your caste or creed will not be asked of you. You better go to that village where only blind people exist.”

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That great man Bullea, who taught himself, and was born in Punjab, India, did not want to be recognized. He wanted to be a simple man. Those people who deeply meditate will have some mesmerizing energies in their eyes. They will have attraction, love, and compassion. The moment the energy happens, people will be gathering around them. Every second they will want to press their legs. They are ready to give them anything they want. But it becomes a problem, because they will be spending their yogic energies. All of these energies will be exploited by the people. There was a great man with his yogic energies who used to cure so many diseases of the people. Whoever took the holy water from his hands, not only were diseases cured, so many mothers got children, so many virgins got husbands, and so many jobless got jobs. And his name and fame was spread all around. Once a man was pressing his feet, and he found that a hair fell down from this great man’s head. He kept that hair in a talisman and tied it to his neck. All his problems were solved by that. His sick wife got up from the deathbed and started walking. His fields started giving lots of grains to him. He could marry his daughter off. He could get a new business for his son. Then that man, one day, shared his experience in front of thousands of people. Immediately all those people jumped on the holy man and pulled off all the hairs off his head, beard and moustache. Now you decide for yourself. Do you want to be popular and lose all your hair? Or do you want to be happy remaining exactly where you are?

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In Russia, Karenski was the president of Russia prior to Lenin. He was so famous and when Lenin became president, nobody looked at him. No one knew where he went. This is the way of the world. When you are in the position with energies, everyone will want to exploit you. Everyone will want to suck you. What do you want? Again and again I ask you the same question. Do you want such a life? Or do you want to hilariously dance, sing, and make merry? It is said by one great man, man is no more important than a coin. And man is more important than wisdom. And truth is more important than wisdom. So where are you going to give the importance? That is up to you.

WHY DO YOU WANT TO KNOW? It is not at all of your concern. “Great men discuss ideals; Average men discuss events; And below average men discuss personalities,” says Andre Maurios. Sri Swami Tilak tells a story. One anthropologist, economist and ecologist sat together and started a discussion. “If this population is going to grow in this way, we won’t have any space to roam here and there,” said the anthropologist. The economist says, “We won’t get any food. Nothing will be available to us.”

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The ecologist says, “If only we are alive, then these problems will crop up. Because of this population, the pollution will increase, and we will all die.” Meantime, they heard a voice of a child. They went to see him. He was the child of the economist. He was sitting in front of a bush weeping. They inquired, “Why are you weeping?” He said, “I am observing this bush. It’s growing very fast. If this growth continues, even stars will not have any place. It’s going to grow so tall.” All the great people started laughing at his stupidity. When the child looked into their face, he asked, “Are you laughing at my stupidity or at your stupidity?” This is how people invite sorrow into their lives. You don’t have to worry about anything. Nature is going to take care of everything. People want to take the responsibility of the entire creation. Unnecessarily they think and invite sorrow into their life. If you want to be happy, you don’t have to divert your vision towards anybody in this society or the social aspects or the social problems. Who has given you the responsibility to take care of the entire creation? Immediately people ask me when I say this, “Are you not responsible for this society?” I say, “I am.” If I can help this society, I am happy. But I don’t want to be depressed towards it, if it doesn’t happen. So the key to happiness is not to 38

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worry about those things which are not in your ability. There is happiness in simplicity. But people are suffering of curiosity. You can observe the children. They want to know everything. They constantly ask questions. When you answer one question, they don’t listen. They go to the next question. When you answer that question, they’ll think of the next question. They don’t want to listen to the answers. They are happy asking questions. They are not interested in the answers. The same problem happens when they grow up, but it is more complicated and cunning. “Hello, how are you?” one asks. He doesn’t have any work to do. He just wants to chat and pass the time. That’s why he asked this question. He’s not at all interested in any answer. People think more of the questions than the answers. When you start thinking about the questions, you will know the technique of questioning. Subtle sadism, it is. Since they know the questioning technique, they will go on asking questions to test the people. They’re not at all interested in the answers. It supports the ego, nourishes the ego, keeps it strong. That’s what lawyers do. Constantly questioning one person, they keep them in confusion. Then they want to extract the answer which they want. But that is not the way of extracting the truth, based on what they think is truth. Truth is truth, but it cannot be achieved easily. When they ask questions to someone, and that person cannot answer it, and is suffocated, then these people feel happy. Think, if the same situation faces you, how do you feel? Everyone wants to be a secret agent and plunder the inner secrets of a particular person. What are you 39

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going to do? Become a blackmailer? Please, if you want to be happy, divert your attention from others and let it come to you. In the same way, look at your inner personality and flaws of your inner heart. Come out of your sorrow. When one person’s life becomes a research lab, then he’ll be the guinea pig, not others. He will analyze himself and attain happiness. If it is only curiosity, your diversion will be towards others. Then, there will be a big valley between your knowledge, source of information and your way of approach towards your life. I know so many professors who give lectures about their subject. They have the information, of medicine. But when practically we ask them to practice medicine, they cannot heal them for their good health nor relieve their pain. But they can speak a lot about medicine. Is it useful? Maybe those students taught by them can be good doctors, but the professors can never be good doctors. Because all their so called information is not practical. A person who cannot practice all that which he knows is useless. He may talk a lot about love, but when he goes back to his house, he’ll struggle with his family. He’ll scold his children or beat them. Knowledge has to be imbibed. It has to be practiced. Then it can give you the happiness, not the information. Somebody called me from a place called Warangal. He wanted to know what happens to man after death. I asked him, “What should I do when I’m alive? Why are you worried after life? What for do you want this?” I asked him. 40

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He said, “I want to know my future lives.” I told him, “Why don’t you live a good life, here, now. Why are you worried about your future?” People ask so many useless questions. Somebody else asked me, “In the Hindu rituals, we break the coconuts. When we break the coconut, shall we remove the extra pigtail from it or can we offer it directly?” So many great men, spiritual leaders, tell how to offer it in different ways. I said, “The celestial beings will take the essence of the food, not the food itself. Whether you offer it with the pigtail or not, it will be accepted by them. And finally you have to take the gross food. So why are you worried? Offer it anyway you want, and enjoy it as a work of your spiritual practice.” So the stupid questions go on. If you want to be happy, stop asking questions. Try to imbibe the truth. Go deep into it. Curiosity is a big disease in human beings. If you put a hole in a door and write on it, don’t look through the hole, everyone will want to look into the hole. Why do you want to look into the secrets of others? Why do you want to know their privacy? It’s a psychological disease, voyeurism. They want to peep into other’s bathrooms and see the naked truth of other people. Why? They want to exploit them, molest them, maybe extract money from them. Stop looking at others. Look into yourself. I know so many Indian housewives who never work and look only after the household aspects. But after their men go away to work, they are free. They don’t have any work so they gossip and talk nonsense 41

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about society and others. They waste their time. And it contains a lot of negligence and irresponsibility, trying to blame others to cover up their own flaws, and spreading rumors all around in the society. It’s good for nothing. Some people will believe anything if it is whispered to them. So that is the problem of the people. That’s where rumors spread. You have to interact with the person, not listen to gossip. Gossip may not be the truth. Rumors can be spread easily in this world, but not the truth. “People who want to cover up their own flaws look for weak points in others,” says Heing Caspers. Yes, to cover their own flaws they look for other’s weak points. How long are you going to live your life like this? You can never be happy. Please find their wonderful points, their greatness, not their flaws. Okay, if you are a cynic, I won’t mind. You can look into the flaws of others, but you also have to look into yourself too. You can mock the entire society, but you have to mock yourself too. You are not different. You are not separate from the society. There are those people who think they are great and all others are useless. Psychiatrists say this is the jaundice complex. They always direct their attention on others. They will feel jealous of them when they see that they are growing. And their ego cannot accept it. They feel that they are great, and they can never accept the greatness of others. And they want to live in their own dreams. They always feel that they are going to seize their capacities, their virtue.

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They feel helpless, angry and lethargic when they look at others. It’s all in their mind. George Elliott says, “Animals never ask questions to other animals. They never criticize, they’re happy.” Why are you doing it? Because you are not an animal. Why does your attention immediately go to others? Why do you want to know about him? Is it necessary for you? Can you solve your own problems? When you can’t solve your own problems, then why are you paying attention to the problems of others? So, be careful. If you want to be happy, always ask, why are you worried about the world? Why are you worried about others? Is it a concern to you? Are you the Lord Almighty to look after everyone’s problems? When you come out of all this network of your mind then only will you be able to realize the absolute truth. When you start with these questions, what for, for whom, and why, these questions will cleanse you too because you’re always supposed to put it onto yourselves. This is called introspection, and once introspection starts, your eyes will be diverted from other people and you will reach your inner core. When you can analyze yourself clearly, you cannot commit any mistakes because you are aware and conscious. In this process itself, you’ll get happiness. I was giving a lecture and one man stood up and asked, “If somebody’s drowning, do you say you’re not supposed to pay attention to him?” By feeling sorry for him, you’re not going to uplift him. 43

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I said, “When you say sorry, can he come out of the water? Can he be saved? Then what is the use of you saying sorry.” If you can protect him, do it, if not, whether you feel sorry for him or not, it makes no difference. But without learning the art of saving a person, you will also drown. You will never make him come out of the water. Knowing how to swim is different, and knowing how to save a person is an art. Unless you know how to save someone, don’t fake as if you are a Guru and try to save them. Guru is the life-saver. He’s fullfledged and trained to save you. Without learning the art, you can never save anybody. So, unless you get the capacity to save somebody, you may have the compassion, you may weep for them, but you will never be able to uplift them. So until that time, be happy. Though you may be in the medical field, you cannot save the people who are suffering with natural calamities. If you try to save them, you could be killing more people. So unless you get the capacity to save somebody else, say why should I? Accept the truth. In this process, I suggest a few things: never give advice, never try to soothe somebody, never try to preach to anybody, because all these suggestions are like castor oil. There is an English saying, “To give castor oil to somebody is very easy, but consuming it is very difficult.”

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It is said from unknown time not to tell an untruth. From time unknown we know this, but we also know that without telling untruths we cannot exist. So nobody has followed it. It is said, from so many generations that you are always supposed to tell the truth. It has been given in hierarchy and has reached down to us, but we know that it doesn’t always happen. Everyone tries for an opportunity to preach to somebody else. It is very easy to preach, but very difficult to practice. Everyone tries for a chance to give free suggestions to those with a sad face. Immediately as soon as they see a sad face, they rush to them and begin preaching. Personally he may have difficulties, but it’s very easy for him to preach. And there are more people who downplay other’s problems saying that they had more problems in their past (as if their problems are a measuring gauge). They want to prove that they are the ultimate source of everything. This is very typical of the ego. Not only do these people want to boast about their properties, money, and their comforts, but they even want to expose their problems too. And they say that they are the only one who faced it, that’s why they are stronger than you. “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do,” says Thomas Jefferson. So never try to speak a lot. Thomas Jefferson says it’s not necessary when one word is required to use more, unless it is asked. Even if it is asked, if you don’t know about the subject, don’t say anything. Though you know the answer, you don’t have to say 45

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it if they do not deserve it. Sometimes it happens in society. Some fools may be discussing things well known to you, but you don’t have to involve in it because you are not invited. Always question yourself, is it necessary for you? And is it needed? Why should you speak? Because giving advice is very easy. Even those fools who don’t know how to clean their nose, they too try to give advice. So, keeping silent is a better way. Giving advice is very easy, following it is difficult. Maybe the advice is bitter, but if it really applies to you, it is good. Even if there are good advisors, there is no one to listen. And one more thing, never get involved in a wife and husband’s quarrel, because you are none. You will be blamed. Because they may fight for a while, but they are one. They are half of each other. You should never enter into their personal affairs. If you want to be happy, I ask you, why do you want to get involved?

BEYOND THE LOGIC “If we were logical, the future would be bleak indeed. But we are more than logical,” says Jacques Cousteau. When India was occupied by the British, they put the railway tracks around the country. One train was on its path. A peasant was in it, and he went through seven tunnels in the hills. He said, “It seems that I could have travelled on my horse or donkey. But in seven days I’ve been through dawn and dusk, but still I haven’t yet reached the city.” Yes, his logic is 46

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perfect. He was only going through tunnels, not dawn and dusk. His experience is the basic point on which he speaks. Life cannot be attained by logic. Logic is petty and paltry. It can make you feel that you have understood something, but it always eludes you. You will know nothing. That which you can attain by experience, can never be experienced by logic. Mathematics, logic, everything, eludes you. But it cannot be experienced truly in your life. A man can do work in ten days, but if you put ten people to do it, it can be done in one day. Logically, it can be done, but practically, it cannot. They won’t do it. Like a mother who has to produce a child and bear it in her womb for nine months. Can nine mothers produce a child in one month? In logic, it can be proven, but it goes against nature. It is not possible. If you want to be happy, you have to change your life as per nature’s rules. But you cannot change nature’s rules as per your expectations. As per those people who live in logic, they will always be in sorrow. It is like sweets which give you happiness. You may like it, but can you live eating it every day, every moment, forever? As per logic, you can, but as per the practical logic, you cannot. After eating the sweets for sometime, you will be vexed by it. You may even vomit it out. Yes, logic may have given some solace to some people, but is temporary. It cannot give permanent happiness. If you think you can walk this life in logic, you will be in sorrow. An atheist can give you logical answers. One day you may like science, another day, mathematics. The logic is like a prostitute, a player. He may be with you one day or may go with 47

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someone else. You can believe in your wife who is faithful to you. But logic is like a prostitute, always remember that. Once a mathematician was jailed for a small fault. When he got out, his friends asked him how was jail life. He said it was okay, but one corner of his room wasn’t at 90 degrees, so he wasn’t happy. Those who live in logic and mathematics, are away from nature, they are away from the landscapes, animals, humans, and natural world. For them, it becomes language, logic, numbers, corners and sides. They become the truth, not nature. If they try to come out of it, they may not face true life. A chemist may feel his wife as a bundle of chemistry. A biologist may feel that his wife is a jumble of so many basic natural substances. For a physician, one may appear as a bundle of ailments, then how can they love their wife? How can they show their love? While looking at a bundle of chemistry or a bundle of gross elements or calculations, can they be human? Can they be happy? One day a man went to a doctor to ask him to check on his sick wife. The doctor knows that the disease cannot be cured, so he refused to come. The man still asked him to come and said, “If you cure her, it’s ok. If you kill her, I won’t mind either, I’ll pay the bill.” The doctor was happy. He gave her the treatment. After one week, she died. And that fellow refused to pay the doctor’s bill and the doctor sued him in court.

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The lawyer asked the doctor, “Did he not tell you that whether you cure her or kill her he will pay the bill?” “Yes.” “Did you kill her?” “No.” “Did you cure her?” “No.” “Then how can he pay it?” With logic, anything can be proved, but it cannot be truth. Life is poetry, not logic. That’s why in mysticism, the seers of that cult say, life is unknowable, but it can be experienced in the heart. Science divides this nature in two ways. Till now we have what we know, and what we don’t know. We don’t know everything, but after some time we may know. Today we may know, tomorrow we may not know it. But science is so stupid that they cannot ever know the absolute truth up to the end. Mysticism always divided it into three parts, unknown, known and knowable. Unknowable can be experienced, but it cannot be known. Experience is not knowing. Experience is imbibing into it. It is like dissolving yourself as a river unto the ocean. Unless you dissolve your ego, you will never know the truth. In knowledge, gñata, the knower, and gñeya, the knowable, never exist. They are two together. 49

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Mysticism rose from the Greek word, mysterion, a secret ceremony. It is unknowable. In that cult, they used to gather all knowledgeable people and meditate, not talk. They used to dance and embrace with no words, no logic, no language. It appears as madness, but it is a fact that truth can only be known in that way. They may be considered as mad, but it is totally different from the normal world. “Love alone is real. If love is not, all else is useless,” says Pappa Ramdas.

STOP ASKING QUESTIONS “Life is not a problem to be solved from outside. The solution to life is only found by living it,” says Osho. If you want to be happy, stop asking questions. Why can’t you accept this universe as it is? Why are you asking questions? One great artist, Vincent Van Gogh, created some art. Somebody asked him what it was. Van Gogh beat his head on the wall, “Why is this question not asked to the flowers, birds, to anything else in this nature? My art came from nature. Why do they want an explanation for it? Why can’t they just enjoy my art?” If you are sad, then you can answer and say why you’re sad. If someone asks if you’re happy, can you tell them anything? It is impossible, because 50

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happiness is an inner spring. It flows naturally, there’s no cause for it. One great poet, Professor Coolridge, was asked what was the meaning of a particular poem. The professor laughed and said, “When I wrote it only two people knew about it, now only one person knows it. When I wrote it, only God Almighty and I knew the meaning about it. Nature used me, and then I knew the meaning of it. You have to ask nature for the meaning. At the time of writing it, I was tuned into nature. Now I am not.” You can be happy without knowing anything. Why should we know the meaning of everything? Do you know the meaning of your father, mother, wife, children, why they are the way they are? What do you mean by love? What is lust, greed, passion? You know only the words, not the meaning. You don’t have to know. Unless one drowns up to the depth of them, he can never understand it. By understanding the meaning of the words, you will never understand it. You have to imbibe it to understand it. Understand it not only by your intellect. When you develop your intellect you will get the knowledge, but knowledge is not going to bring happiness. You have to know the art of living in society. All our thoughts, feelings, emotions, and karmic patterns are different. But with love, happiness follows.

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“Be clear, the rest will follow,” says Napoleon. Napoleon says that if you are clear about yourself, everything follows. We are reasoning people. We reason everything. Maybe in our dreams we reason everything. But is it leading us towards the absolute truth? Everyone thinks, even the greedy fellow who is uneducated or educated, but I want you to think properly. First we have to know what we want. Then we will be able to proceed. If we really want happiness, we are supposed to think properly. We are supposed to talk properly. To talk we need language. And language should be proper. Every sentence is to be thoroughly prepared. As per the meaning, people will proceed toward you. To talk properly, we need to have proper thinking. Then language will certainly cooperate with it. It is the conversation between the people and your mind too. When we converse with others, and if we cannot express our love towards them, it means that we have the jealous ego factor. We have to clear it off. Once I gave yoga initiation to 120 people in a small town. Yearly, they had a spiritual program for the past twelve years. I spent two months there talking to them. So many saints gave lectures during the twelve years, but nobody initiated them into deep meditation. Everyone thought it was supposed to happen, because it is a spiritual program. Everyone else who gave lectures was jealous of me. It means that they were not thinking properly, they weren’t going into the depth of their heart. Rather, they started to prove that my initiation methods are wrong. After I left, one of my students got paralysis, 52

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and everyone blamed me that I initiated him into the wrong path. It was not proper thinking. Attaching this point to my meditation technique is terrible. This is not the proper way of thinking or talking, but people do it. I’m sorry about it. I wanted to test it thoroughly, and he was tested by the doctors with scanning. They found out that he had the problem in his family for about 50 years. The scanning reports showed that he had psychological paralysis (or hysterial paralysis), not physical paralysis. In physical paralysis, the lower half of the leg or arm becomes paralyzed. In hysterial paralysis, the upper half of the leg or arm becomes paralyzed. We can cure hysterial paralysis with talk therapy, which is called as selfforgiving. It will try to remove the guilt that was fixated in his mind. Not only Indians have fixations, everyone has them. In America, the number 13 is considered a bad omen. In buildings, the 13th floor is always skipped. Especially when the 13th day occurs on a Friday, Americans will be shaken. Then, a book and Hollywood movies came out based on this superstition. So many accidents and negative things happened on this day, but if you analyze it, the same results could come out on any day. It’s only a fixation, not properly thinking or properly analyzing. See, people think in erroneous notions. One says that it is true because Jesus said it. What is the proof of it? The Bible is the proof. Is the Bible the proof, or is Jesus the proof? It is said by Jesus, so it is proof. What is the proof? Then they go back to the Bible, it is just like beating around the bush. Muslims say Mohammad is the proof and the Koran is the bible for it. This is not proper thinking.

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In Alexandria, Greece, there was a big library. Kalip Omar entered into the library with a torch in his hand. He showed the Koran and said, “Is there anything in this book that is not in this library? And if everything is there in this book, what is the use of this library? Because this is the final ordinance by the God Almighty, so I want to burn it.” He started burning the entire library. It took six months to burn this big library. How stupid he was! Is this proper thinking? And another anecdote: In a monastery, they had a rule that in the evening for one hour they will have time for prayer. They can go into the garden and meditate. One fellow was smoking a cigarette. Another asked, “Have you asked for permission to smoke from our teacher, Gurudev?” “Yes, of course,” the first guy said.” I asked him for permission and he didn’t give it to me. How could he give you permission?” the second guy said. “How did you ask for permission?” first guy asked.” “I asked for permission to smoke while I’m meditating,” said the second guy. “No, that’s not the right way to ask the question. I asked, ‘While smoking, can I meditate?’ That’s the proper way to ask for permission,” first guy said.

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So there is a proper way of thinking and talking. We have to learn the art to live in this society with all others. So many people say, “I don’t mean to say....” When you don’t mean to say it, why has it popped out of your mouth? Why don’t you have control of your tongue? How do you expect to live with the other people in society? Take a look at disciples who remain close to their Guru. Even they don’t know how to listen to their Guru. They don’t listen, they don’t understand, they still live in their own way, and let their ego take control. What about the ordinary person in society? How are they supposed to think and talk properly with no real guidance? Without proper listening and talking, this leads to conflict. And this is happening worldwide. This is how relationships continuously fail. Let us discuss further about how properly we can think and act. One fellow gets up in the morning and says, “Good morning, Sungod.” Another fellow gets up and says, “Oh God, it is morning already.” One is optimism, and the other is pessimism. Talking is not only from the mouth. With each limb we can express it. You can talk so sweetly to someone, but they may get hurt because your posture indicates that you don’t love them. Once I spoke to a beggar who complained about those who did charity to him. I told him that he was supposed to be thankful to those who gave charity to him.

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The beggar said, “When I am all alone, if I pester them for hours together, then they give charity. If they are in front of other people, they give it quickly. Especially in front of women they want to show their greatest charity. They are not giving heartily; if they give with love I will be happy. That’s why I feel they are shit.” Finally, I say a few things; never feel another’s duty as your right, another’s charity as your quality, and another’s weakness as your strength. This is the way of living happily. That’s how you can express yourself to this society.

BE SIMPLE “Everyone is trying to accomplish something big, not realizing that life is made up of simple things,” says J.A. Clarill. Our life is filled with simple things, but we never recognize it and we want it to be big and great. And we want to prove ourselves as something else. Don’t be a fool, be simple, and you’ll attain it. It is a fantasy of teenagers that they want to be great, celestial beings, and enter into the film industry. They think that they can achieve something and prove themselves as great, as every teenager sees themselves as a megastar. Those film actors say, “By acting continuously we forgot our own selves and have become fakes.”

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Dasari Narayana Rao, an actor/producer/director in the Telugu film industry says, “We cannot eat our own food, wear the clothes we like, or talk how we like. Our entire life is a drama. It has become a film. Maybe we are great to the society, but we know the stupidity we live in.” I am not telling you that simple living means living in a cave or hut in a forest. I say, live in the truth, not in the emotions and fantasies. Live in the love. Love this society in which you are born. You don’t have to have great ideals. Be a child. Live happily. It is like a pure fog drop on a leaf. It is like a beautiful sunrise. Never think of that which is not available now and whether or not you’re ever going to attain it. You have everything this second. The Lord Almighty blessed you. Every American teenager wants to date someone so that they can be happy. The fact is that they can never remain together. All of this is stupidity. Simplicity is the state of effortlessness. You don’t have to strive for it. Be simple and you’ll attain it. So many people renunciate themselves to be worshipped, not for realization of truth. So many people fake simplicity and surrender meekness to attain name and fame, as if to say, “See how simple we are. You should be like us.” So don’t fake it, simplicity should be natural. In every religion, it is suggested that you remain celibate. In Hindu tradition, it has happened and they have suppressed themselves. In Christian tradition, they are supposed to follow celibacy during Easter and Christmas. When the lust is suppressed, women can become lesbians and men can become gays. 57

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This happens to lay people and renunciates, those living lives as priests, monks and nuns. Lust is a need not desire. There is a lot of difference between desire and need. In Sanskrit there is a word, kāma, which means desire, not lust. Maybe lust is a desire, but really it is a basic need. It is a need when their desires are not fulfilled. During the teenage and youth years, it is a natural phenomenon. There is nothing to blame, and it is not a sin. When we are hungry or thirsty, we crave for food and drink; the same thing happens with sex. When lust becomes predominant, it becomes greed, and greed becomes anger. The Bhagavad Gita, the Bible of Hindus, says that lust, greed and anger are the doors for hell. It has to be explained clearly that they are not the doors for hell unless they are extended to the maximum. I’m not stressing if heaven and hell really exist or not. We can create the heaven and hell on earth, which will be explained further. In this society, all needs can be fulfilled, but not the desires. If men or women crave for more partners, it becomes greed. It becomes anger when they suppress it. Then it becomes greed again. It becomes a vicious cycle, and this becomes the hell. So it has to be balanced; that is simplicity. When a man or woman craves for many sexual partners, and if they fulfill that desire, it creates anger in others, which leads to vengeance. The same thing happens with money. If someone hoards everything, then the rest will have nothing. There is an imbalance unless they use it as media to share it with the society. If one hoards everything, then the entire society will lack it. When you try to hoard something, it becomes a desire, and creates an inner imbalance to the individual. When you act 58

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on it, it becomes an imbalance in the society. So sharing wealth with someone in the name of society does not mean you will attain the subtle lands with that virtue. Heaven and hell exist here on the earth. You are creating a balance in the society. And if someone hoards everything, then someone else will want to plunder it in anger. And when one starts with the hoarding, the entire society will be disturbed. That’s why the Bhagavad Gita says that lust, greed and anger are the doors for hell, meaning you are creating the hell on earth, not in some subtle realms. Lust is the highest energy, and if you suppress it, in some way it comes out as mental or physical disease, or you may harm the society in some way. Here are some anecdotes about heaven and hell. A man went to hell, and he was brought to an air conditioned room, and asked God, “Can I smoke here in hell?” “Yes, of course,” God said. “And can I booze here too?” the man asked. “Yes, why not?” God said. “And can I eat pizza?” asked the man. “All that you want, my man,” God said. “This surely is heaven. How can this be hell?” the man asked.

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“You can have all these things forever, but we’re going to lock this door and you can never get out. Welcome to hell.” Also, you like pizza. I give you a slice. I give you another slice, and another, and another. You are in heaven. Then I go on giving you the whole pizza, and another, and another, forcing you to eat. You are totally stuffed, and ready to vomit. Now you are in hell. And like when you are in your lover’s embrace. It feels like heaven, and you want to remain there forever. You keep telling each other, “I love you.” But he won’t let you go for hours together. You’re suffocating and want to get out, but he won’t let you. Now you are in hell. A man was sitting under a wish-fulfilling tree in heaven, and the tree asked the man what he wants. He could have anything in the universe that he wants. The man said, “Oh, this is heaven. I just want a cot underneath you to lie in comfort, oh great wishfulfilling tree.” The tree sent him a cot with no bottom. Then, the man asked for just one bottle of champagne. The tree sent him a bottle with no bottom. Then, the man asked for a beautiful woman to enjoy. The tree sent him a beautiful woman with no pussy. “Oh, this is hell,” the man said. Again, a man was under the same wish-fulfilling tree in heaven. He asked for a cot which he laid on, a bottle of whiskey which he drank, some food which he ate, and a beautiful woman whom he fucked. 60

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Then, for a moment, he had a thought what it would be like if a lion came. Then, a lion came ate him and made it hell. There was a Communist who was in hell. He really worked hard, cleaned up the place, and grew some lush plants and nutritious vegetables. Some other people asked him to confirm if this was hell, and he said, “No, this is heaven.” “How can this be heaven?” they asked. “If you work hard, you can make heaven out of hell,” the man said. There are these so-called spiritual leaders who give big lectures about going against lust, greed and anger, but so many of them are hoarding so much money. Due to this greed, when people prostrate at these so-called spiritual leaders’ feet, their eyes will be fixed on the women’s breasts and the men’s wallets. So they lust over the women and their husband’s money. And if they don’t give any money, Guru dakshina (donation to the teacher), they get angry at them, and stare at them with angry eyes. In their dreams, they become rapists, killers, and smugglers. And those who are rapists, killers and smugglers in life become saints in their dreams. Even in our spiritual family, the young girls to middleaged women lust over me, and the teenage boys to the old men lust over Bhairavi. If we feel sorry for them, and fulfill their sexual desires, they will crave it even more due to additional greed. And how long can 61

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this go on? These people are supposed to be our children, and what kind of spiritual person has sex with their children, of any age? Middle aged women stare at Bhairavi in anger and jealousy since she is with me. Due to their suppressed ego they think they too could also have me, like my young Bhairavi. Men of all ages stare at her in lustful anger. The teenage boys prostrate to her feet with the feeling of lust, as the teenage girls do to me. They want to shake her hands so they could have her lovely touch, as she is a Westerner and different than them. This is also an expression of lust, because they would never dare to shake hands with any Indian woman. During the time of the rishis, they were not celibate. They had a wife to share their life with, and bless the people with. Together they did all these things as we do today. All this suppression which relates to lust, greed and anger started with the Shankaracharya cult in 7th century B.C. Prior to this great man, the rishis said there are four stages of life. The first stage, brahmacharya, the celibacy stage, begins at 6 or 7 years old of any creed, where a young boy gets initiated into the holy thread and starts to follow the spiritual path. The Gurukula, the home of the teacher and his wife, the spiritual family, begins as the boys accept the Guru and the Gurupatni, his wife, as their parents. They are supposed to serve the Guru and Gurupatni and stay for at least 12 years with them to study and they treat them as their own children. All creeds can belong to one Gurukula. At that time, there was no caste system, as only Hindus existed in India. The Guru, who knows everything and is the master of all arts and subjects, teaches the boys 62

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according to their creed. He taught archery and warfare to the princes, Vedas and ritual aspects to the Brahmins, potmaking to the potmaker’s children, etc. If the boy had an interest to learn beyond their creed, the Guru would teach it. It was not a condition, as per their creed. They were supposed to learn their art, but they could learn everything if they wanted to. Gruhasta ashrama, the household life, the second stage, is the stage of social responsibility. In this stage, they have control over their senses, won’t disturb the society, can get married in their own creed, and can have children. The kshetriyas, the princes, the rulers, would handle legal, police and judicial departments. The Brahmins were the spiritual guides, priests, ministers, advisors to the kings, and doctors. They also served the society and taught spirituality. The vaishyas, the economists and business men were merchants, and would supply all food and supplies to the society. They also made investments, and looked after the agriculture and the cows. Shudrās are the servants of the society, the potmakers, woodcarvers, goldsmiths, clothes washers, maids, etc. The third stage is vanaprasta, in the old age they turn their minds towards the forest, meaning a stage of penance. Renunciate thoughts begin in their mind, and they began a deeper stage of penance. But they have not yet left their homes, as they prepare for the full renunciate life. They then they take the sannyāsa ashram, the final stage where they leave the home. They are full renunciates now. They remain in the forest and do their penance, so society cannot be disturbed. All can be happy. This was a perfect set-up prior to Shankaracharya’s time in order to have a balanced society. Shankaracharya, 63

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a boy who took renunciation at 7 years old, was special, as he took samādhi, death, at 32 years old. It was possible with him because he was a great man. He promoted this path to the society, but the rest of society was unable to handle it. They didn’t have the control of their senses as Shankaracharya did. Suppression of lust, greed, and passion in India began, and perversions sprung out. This same thing happened in Christianity too. Jesus sacrificed himself at a young age of 33 for the society. Then other cults such as the Roman Catholic Church, which promoted celibacy, also came to be. The same problems of suppressions and perversions went to the western world as well. So in the name of religion, the problems of lust, greed, and passion evolved worldwide from the suppression of the highest energy, and it diverted everyone from being happy, which is where humankind is today. That’s why we ask the humankind to be simple. That is why spiritual paths ask for one man to be faithful to one woman for the whole life, then society can be balanced. When the lust, greed and anger are suppressed, they become psychosomatic diseases. Being a homeopathic doctor, I’ve seen patients that had urine problems because the bladder opens, and the muscles will no longer have the capacity to hold urine. For diabetic patients, they don’t have urinary control of their muscles. This was happening to people even though they did not have diabetes. When I asked the patient what he was doing, he said, “I’m practicing celibacy.” These diseases are called as allopsychosis. These people will always jump up 64

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on others for their own faults, because they have suppressed their desires. They will blame someone else for going to someone else’s wife for an illegal connection, or will harass someone for drinking alcohol, or nag someone for stealing other’s property. They do this because they have suppressed these desires inside that they themselves want to do. Neither the perversion nor the suppression is suggested in the Bhagavad Gita. “Yuktā hāra vihārasya,” says the Bhagavad Gita. It means everything should be balanced, may it be in your diet, sexual life, anger, jealousy, everything. Even if you’re not an angry individual, you should at least fake it sometimes or people will take advantage of you and plunder you. Krishna said to Arjuna that that is being a yogi. And that yogic stithi means the yogic way, simplicity. For the one who is that simple, who is practicing yoga, and balancing everything in his life, then the world becomes a creative university for him. He can learn a lot because his body and mind are in a good condition to absorb everything. Once, I sent a woman to study the Buddhist method of meditation called Vipassana. She asked me why I was named Maitreya. She wanted to know if I was the incarnation of Arimaitreya, Gautama the Buddha. Arimaitreya is known in Buddhist scriptures as the future incarnation of Buddha to come. I negated it and said I didn’t want to be anyone’s incarnation. I told her I wanted to remain as a simple man. The real reason why she asked that question is that she wanted to be known as a great disciple of the great 65

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Gautama the Buddha. That is the subtle ego in her mind, and I didn’t want to pamper her. I gave yogic initiations to so many people. When I was initiated by my Guru, I never heard any sounds in my inner heart, or never saw any visions in my inner mind. But those who took initiation from me claim to have seen visions and heard some sounds. Of course, in yoga, there are some explanations about listening to the inner sounds and seeing visions when the pranic energy crosses all the seven chakras, the energetic wheels. But I told them that it usually requires years of penance to achieve these, rather than right at initiation. It means that they are faking in competition, saying I got this vision, I heard this sound, just to show each other up. So many suppressed women say that Krishna had good sex with them, and Roman Catholic nuns say that Jesus Christ had a good fuck with them. This is a disease known as spectrophilia, where people fake and say that these divine beings come in their dreams and have sex with them. It is really their suppressions that allow these dreams to happen because their desires aren’t fulfilled. It can be caused by schizophrenia, another mental disease, where people say they are possessed by these divine beings. They move and twitch about saying that they are Lord Buddha, Jesus and Krishna, but it’s all a show of their suppressions. So be simple, be real, be honest, there is nothing to hide, as secrets don’t exist. When living in truth, there are no secrets, except that this life is beautiful as it is.

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In old Indian tradition, so many people walk on fire and pierce swords and needles into their bodies. In the 13th century, people called flagelentes used to burn their own bodies in the name of religion. Followers of Lord Vishnu, led by Ramanuja, still continue this Indian tradition called as flagellation. They brand their skin with the marks of a conch and a wheel, the marks of Vishnu. Now we talk about the psychic disease called as photism. Those who have this disease will see lots of colors in their meditations, and when it is included with sounds, it is called as synesthesia. If I could have believed in all these experiences by my disciples that I initiated, then I could have by now declared myself as the incarnation of Lord Buddha to save this society. This is called as paranoia. I didn’t have any diseases coming out as visions and sounds. That’s why I never claimed it. “He who never makes a mistake can never make a discovery,” said by a great scientist. So all great discoveries are made by mistakes only. “Truth emerges more readily from error than from confusion,” said by Francis Bacon. So we don’t have to put any conditions to suppress them. Let the people commit their mistakes and learn from their mistakes. But this is not a license for you to be perverted or suppressed. Bill Brandley said, “Becoming number one is easier than remaining number one.” 67

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Once you start faking, once it becomes a habit of remaining on the top, you can never come out of that fixation. Then you can never become a simple man or woman. To keep that status, you have to keep telling lies and fake a lot. You don’t have to do it. That’s why I say finally, if you want to be happy, be simple. When you live for the society, for humankind, your life will be beautiful. When you never suppress anything and never pervert anything, then your mind becomes peaceful, then you can enter all of this humanhood. When all of this ends, then spirituality begins.

YES, THIS TOO WILL PASS AWAY “Life never dies because it goes on changing; So remember this: This Too Will Pass,” says Osho. There was a king with a big dynasty, and in his court he kept the most knowledgeable people and the greatest warriors. But finally, he was vexed and was going through mental agony which he could not express. He was bored, and asked what all the nonsense was going on. He asked his scholars if he could have something which could give him happiness. He thought, “And when I’m bored with it, will it give sorrow to me? I want a ring on my finger which gives all these miracles.” 68

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All these scholars and great people sat and discussed it. Finally they made a ring, and gave it to him. They said that, “It can be opened. It has a door in it. Suggestions will be there, don’t open it until it’s very necessary. Then only will it work. There is a mantra inside, when the happiness or sorrow goes to the maximum extent, open it and it will certainly help you.” He wore the ring and forgot about it. Meanwhile, another powerful king attacked this king’s dynasty, killed some of his soldiers, and occupied his lands. He had to escape. He got on his horse, and his enemies chased him. He remembered the ring, but thought, “I might have lost my dynasty and everything. I may be running way, but it is not the extreme end for my sorrow. I can go back and gather more soldiers and attack them back. So it is not yet the time for me to open this ring.” The soldiers kept on chasing him. There was an archer who wanted to shoot his arrows at the king. He thought that this was the extremity, but meantime that archer fell off of his horse and died. The king ran further away upon the horse, and finally his horse died with exhaustion, frothing from the mouth. The king found a hill and started running onto the hilltop. His enemies did not follow him on their horses to the top of the hill. When the king reached the top of the hill, he saw a big valley behind it. He could not escape but he thought, “No, this is not the extreme end of my sorrow.” He found a tree root, hung onto it, went into the valley, and hid in a small cave. This time all of his enemies came. He listened for them, and heard the stones falling from his footsteps. Now

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his sorrow was at the maximum extent. He thought he was going to die. He opened the ring and saw the mantra that said, “This too will pass away.” The king had peace in his mind, when he opened the ring and saw the words that this too will pass away. He relaxed and all his enemies went away. Slowly he crawled to the top of the hill and reached a village to take rest. He ate well, gathered his soldiers, attacked his enemies, and attained his dynasty back. He was a good king, so all the people were happy. The king took a royal bath. He drank good wine and ate well. He sat on his throne. Dancers danced. Musicians played. Singers sang. And everywhere hilarious chants went off, “Hail, hail the great king! Hail!” Now the happiness went to the extreme. He opened the ring again, saw this too will pass away, and was relaxed. Happiness, sorrow, lust, greed, and anger, all these are excitements. They are not permanent. They will pass away. One who knows about this can remain in happiness ever. Actually we can bear with sorrow, not with pleasure. When pleasure goes to the maximum extent, it is intolerable. Those who suffer in sorrow can live long, but not those who have lots of pleasures. They will be diseased, and that excitement literally makes your blood vessels burst in diseases like heart attack or paralysis. I have never seen a person who died in sorrow. But I have seen so many people dying in the excitement of pleasure. You should be able to master all of these emotions. Emotions can never make you reach the absolute reality, that which is happiness. All these 70

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emotional problems harm us first, then the society. That’s why the rishis of yore say to control them, never to suppress them and never be perverted. Anytime anything goes to the extreme end, remember this mahāmantra as, “Even this too will pass away.” Be the master of your mind. Be alert. Be conscious of your emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Actually, your consciousness always speaks to you. You should be alert and aware to receive it. If you cannot, it is because you are in your emotions, thoughts, and feelings. Remember that they are on the upper surface on the ocean of your mind. There are no ripples in the depths of the ocean. That is your heart. Finally what I wanted to say is, the social circumstances or your emotions, feelings, and thoughts, nothing is permanent. Even this too will pass away. One day you won’t have to worry about it. Be stable and happiness is yours.

ACCEPT THE OLDER GENERATION “When you want to love this universe, it means you are ready to receive your own life.” You may have learned about the share market or the stock market. When you invest shares in various companies and you get profits out of it, you’ll be calculating in which share market you should invest in next. When you get the profit in a particular company, you’ll want to shift it to another company where you can get more profits. Life is not a 71

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business, but it goes on in the life of the human. If you won’t change this way of living, you can never be happy. To understand this, I’ll give you an anecdote. A child’s father died at a very young age, and his mother worked hard to bring him up. For her, he is everything. When he became 25 years old, she asked him to get married to a woman. He said, “Mom, we may not tune together and we’ll have trouble. She could be a wall in between you and me.” “Don’t worry,” she said, “I want you to be happy, and it’s a right age for you to get married.” Finally, she forced him and he got married. Now, his investments shifted from his mom’s company to his wife’s company. He started calling on his wife, instead of his mother, for everything. His insecurities moved from his mother’s account to his wife’s account. His mother started feeling that his son doesn’t love her anymore since he now has a wife. Since another person came into his life, he has to love her too. From where is he going to get the love? From his love treasure box. When he started sharing his love, his mother got jealous, and started having sleepless nights. As mother and son, they used to sleep together and she used to gaze at him while he slept. Now she feels insecure because he’s not available to her for the first time in 25 years. She also feels guilty that she encouraged the marriage, and regrets getting involved. She becomes paranoid, and acts as if she has a heart attack to disturb their privacy, because she wants attention. Now the 72

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couple has a child, a son. As a father, he has to invest in that child’s love treasure box. Now the love has to be shared, and the grandmother becomes jealous of the child. The grandmother of the child becomes more paranoid because all the love is not available to her now. Who is responsible for all that happens? Who is to blame? If one is to be blamed, it is the grandmother, because she forced this whole situation. All of the problems started with the expectations. Life is not a business. If you believe, since I love you, you’re supposed to love me in this particular way, you will suffer, just like the grandmother. If a parent tells a child, become a dentist because they are dentist and want their child to take over the family business, they are saying, “Your happiness lies with my expectations of wanting you to become a dentist.” The child will never be who they can really be, and they will never be happy. They will not live up to their full potential, may resent their parents, and become a problem to society. River flows downward from the mountain. The natural flow of the hierarchy goes downward. But if they think that they can reverse the flow upward, then they are mistaken. This is certainly unnatural. Let’s go back to that family. The new parents had another child, and again the father has to reinvest his love. He seizes it from his mother and it gets placed in the new child’s account. He had to take some of the investments in his mother’s company, move it to his wife’s company, and the older child’s company, and then into the newer child’s company. 73

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The grandmother feels totally deprived in her own company. While the son has two young children, the grandmother feels like her life has gone to the dogs. She feels like she’s been thrown into the backyard, and being tossed some food. She hires a maid to look after her. The maid is not looking after her with love, because it is her duty to look after the grandmother. The maid curses the grandmother while she serves her. Now her son has no time to talk to his mother due to his added responsibilities. And one dark day, she died. Why has it happened? Whose responsibility is it? Why is there so much jealousy and selfsuppression? All these questions may rise. Accept it as society’s truth at present. This man is considered as selfish. We can see it everywhere in society. Why do we have so many expectations? Without them, can we not live? Yes, we can. The old woman is the real cause for it. There’s no one else to blame. It is the duty of the higher generation to serve the lower generation, not the lower ones to serve the upper ones. If at all someone is serving like that, they can be considered as angels descended on the earth. The son who serves his mother on her deathbed can be considered a celestial being. Selfishness is normal in this society at this time. Of course he’s selfish, that’s why he looks down towards his lower generation. He’ll expect his children to take care of him. But his vision cannot go up for the higher generation, and the same thing will happen to his children too. The old woman passed on her selfishness to her son, and her son will pass on this selfishness to his children, as this is the situation he’s been raised in. It is a natural phenomenon going on in present day society which causes the sorrow. A father or mother may 74

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say, “I’ve spent so much money on him, educated him, served him, and gave him all the clothes and comforts. What is it that I’ve got in return? What has he given to me?” They think that when they serve their kids, they’re so much more responsible than so many other people. But still, who will get the result? If the parents see their child who has become self sufficient, great, and popular, they should get the pleasure of it. But they can never get this feeling if this is the way of living. If they won’t do it, they will have the sorrow. Here’s some direct advice. If you really accept them, you should know the truth that your children are not going to look after you. So save something for your old age. Old couple, please never expect any money from your child because you are here to give. Otherwise, you’ll create stress in your mind and body. I’m sorry, you may have a heart attack too. If you keep your body and mind free of expectations from your children, even in your old age, you can be strong. So don’t expect to take any services from others. Senior citizen’s lives will be horrible in Europe compared to any other Asian country. In Asian countries, still the families are together as big, combined families. One or the other will be taking care of the old people. For example, in my family we are four brothers. Three of us are useless, but at least there is one brother there to look after our mother. Neither old age is the problem, nor the social circumstance, just your mental capacity to receive them as they are. Listen to the standards of society to be happy.

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During 1984 in France, there were 200,000 senior citizens who wanted to commit suicide because they were depressed of their life. To boost their spirits, one establishment was set up called “Little Brothers.” Members were children older than ten years, and they would be trained to handle the old people and bring them out of their depression. These children would go to these senior citizens, play with them, talk with them, and exchange their ideas. Then these seniors started to feel one with their family. And these younger ones would learn how to love the senior citizens. When you are in lethargy, especially in your old age, this psychological phenomenon occurs. So I say, forget your lethargy and work. At night, take good rest. Even the atmosphere in India is changing as so many senior centers are sprung out. Is the love of the Indian hearts going away? Oh well, these are present day truths. We will have trouble when we try to change them; we will be in sorrow when we think about them. All we can do is accept them as they are so that we can be happy. A French person named Rawlshiz had a normal household life, fulfilled all his responsibilities and he learned 200 languages. He translated so many books from one language to another. When he retired from his duties, he said, “Now I’ll have time to write and read. To the end, I will be doing this work.” “They hear his faintest whisper above earth’s loudest song. They see his slightest signal across the heads of the throng.”

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“Be happy. It is a way of being wise,” says Stephen Koachi. Be strong in your mind. Never give up. Then in your meditation, you’ll be able to listen to the divine words. You can see those people who are in trouble. You can give them the solace. Grow. Be happy. It is a way of being wise. “I think I can only be happy with the animals. In their eyes, there is tranquility. In their posture, there is confidence. They are never depressed. The entire night they won’t be waking up and asking me stupid questions about God, sky rides, and bullshit. They don’t have any satisfaction, and they never prostrate at each other. They never care where they came from. I prefer to live with the animals than with the human kind,” says Maitreya.

NEVER STOP “To grow and walk further to reach your goal, is the dharma, the absolute reality of nature. So don’t ever stop, it goes on and on,” says the Vedas. We’ll hear from these people that this old age is a curse. “I could have died in my young age. It has made my life a hell.” These people did not do any exercise or yoga. They sat in a corner, so all their limbs are rusted.

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“His feet will be strong, he who will be walking always,” says Aitreya Brahmana, from the Vedic yore. All the senior citizens will be filled with experience. If they stop it’s not only sorrow for them, its sorrowful for the entire society. The next generation will lack the proper guidance from them. We need the senior citizens to guide us. It is true that in old age, our memory power and emergency response decreases. The energy to take a decision also will be in a dilapidated condition. We’ll forget everything. But when we look back in history, all of these false aspects are not true. Do you know the so-called philosopher Socrates established his school of philosophy at age 70? He propagated it for 10 years, and was killed by poison at age 81. The king asked this rebel to either give up his philosophy or his life. The king kept in one vessel a beautiful lotus flower, and in the other glass vessel was the poison. Socrates took the poison and happily died knowing that he completed his mission. Do you still think that this old age is a curse? Socrates knew that he was going to die and never see the sunrise again. It was ordained by the king. His disciples were shedding tears all night long in his prison cell. But Socrates did not have any stress, and he played with the lotus. Somewhere he heard someone singing a song. Socrates called over the jailer, and he told him he wanted to learn the song.

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The jailer himself was his disciple, and said, “Till morning you’re not going to live here anymore. Why do you want to learn it?” Socrates said, “My boy, we know that death is upon us. We know that tomorrow, we can die. I am alive now.” What is the proof? Every second, one who learns it from the nature, is alive. Then the entire night he learned that song. In the morning, he drank the poison and he died. Cicero, at the age of 63, produced his greatest book “Treatise on Old Age.” Chiro, at the age of 80, learned the Greek language. The poet, Gote, completed his greatest work, at 103, entitled “Fast”. Albert Einstein found his theory of relativity and Samuel Morse invented the telegraph in their old age, and still they lived further and continued their research. George Bernard Shaw and Mahatma Tolstoy (the title given by Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, the India), continued their writings till their old age. Happily they wrote till their death, and we can find more work in their old age rather than their young age. Victor Hugo continued his writing till his deathbed. Tennison completed his greatest work, “Crossing the War,” in his old age. Robert Browning, at age 70, completed, “Revelry and Epilogue to Islandau,” two beautiful poems composed at his deathbed. H.G. Whales, the greatest writer of all time, completed more than a dozen of his greatest works in his old age. Sri AC Bhakti Vedanta Prapupada Swami, was born on September 1, 1896. On September, 13, 1965, at 79

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age 65, he went to America and established ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness). Untill his death on September 14, 1977, at 81, for 12 years he worked continuously day and night. He produced 216 Krishna mandirs, uncountable subcenters and vegetarian dining halls, taught Gurukula, and he established so many associations. The Russians also offered him some land to open up an ashram in the Communist way of living. In these 12 years, he produced at least 50 books, and millions of copies of them are sent around the world. In some universities, they became textbooks. In Russia, his books were translated in 23 languages. In English only, up to 1988, 43,450,000 copies were sold, and 55,314,000 were printed. Before he died in Vrindavan, he wrote his famous book, “Bhagavad Gitam, As It Is.” For that book, he needed some paper, and 76 bogies filled the entire train with paper. So this is the power of the old man. Do you still say that this is a curse? Mahadev Govinda Rānadev, a language professor, a great man, purchased a paper in a Bengali language. Immediately, his wife asked, “You don’t know Bengali.” He said, “I’ll be on the train for two days, do you think that I cannot learn Bengali in two days?” Then he placed his entire concentration on the Bengali newspaper. He checked the pronounciation and the script, and as they reached Pune, he could translate the whole paper to his wife. Do you know what his age was? He was 60 at that time.

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Not only men, even women in their old age gave so many gifts to this universe. Mary Samara Huille, at age 82, founded some equipment for atomic energy. Mrs. Lucreria, at the age of 80, worked hard to uplift the lives of the woman and for world peace. So my dear man or woman, in your old age, forget yourself, do some social work, and show your capacities towards society. Never remain idle. lf you can feel the entire world that you forgot since you got old, forget all that. When you’re vacant and not doing anything you’ll be depressed. You’ll feel deprived of this universe that abandoned you. You’ll invite disease onto your mind and body. You’ll age fast and be bedridden. Create some work for the society and the mind will not have depression or stress. With your dynamic thinking, you’ll feel confident in the hearts of those who are depressed. As long as you can boost the energies of others, you can always be happy because you won’t have any time to feel depressed. You should feel totally satisfied in your mind. Be alert on your work. This is the secret key to the kingdom of happiness. You should have the treasure of happiness to be able to distribute it to the masses. How to be Happy in the Old Age 1. Old age is a state in everyone’s life. Please welcome it and accept it. 2. Daily you have to take the minimum vitamins and proteined food. It is said by Swami Chinmayananda, “If I rest, I rust.” So do some exercise or jogging. Or stroll. Make it a regular habit. 81

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And proper rest is also required. In this old age, then only can you be healthy, happy, and blissful. 3. Don’t be idle in the old age. You must engage yourself in some work or other. If you can create interest in others also, it will be good. If you sit idle, your mind becomes a devil’s workshop. 4. Be intelligent in your youth. Try to save something for your old age. Because in that old, dilapidated situation, you may not be able to work. 5. Take care of all your properties that they reach the hands of your proper descendents. 6. Never try to find a fault, find a remedy. Have compassion and friendship with everyone. 7. Never try to criticize the younger generations. Try to understand them. They are totally different from your time of existence. 8. If you are with your family, your children and grandchildren, try to help them with the household work. Help the children with their schoolwork, play with them, clean them, and give them a bath. When your son and daughter go to work, and the children go to school, try to settle the house right. 9. Never try to control anybody. That gives you enmity and your body is not in a position to fight with them. Try to speak to everyone with love, so they can also respond to you in the same way.

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10. Disease is natural in the old age. Make arrangements for the medicine and proper servants Respect them, and love them so they can cooperate with you. 11. Don’t worry about the ill health in the old age. It is natural. 12. Brood over all those past experiences which were very good in your life. 13. Never worry about the future, because you have no future. You are going to die. 14. Good or bad will be decided by the social standards. Try to adjust with them. 15. Have faith in some religion, faith, and spirituality. Self-confidence will keep you in good mental and physical health in the old age. Research Center of Senior Citizens, Sri Venkateshwara University, Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh, India

BE YOURSELF “Be yourself. No one will say you’re doing it wrong,” by The Season of the Witch.

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There once was a saint who used to live at the edge of the village and used to dwell in absolute reality, the absolute happiness. So many people used to visit him and talk to him, to solve their problems. But he made them wait hours together. There was one man that came with lots of family and marital problems, and he made him sit until the evening. Then the man asked him, “What is the cause of your peace? How did you come out of your sorrow? Can I attain the same status?” The saint laughed at him and said, “This so-called peace and happiness, if you want to attain it, then give up the ego that you have to do anything. The struggle to attain itself is the hindrance in the attainment of happiness.” That man was very sad and said, “I’m sorry sir, I couldn’t understand what you said. But that absolute peace in your face, I’m jealous of it.” The saint laughed and said, “I know what the cause of your sorrow is. And in time I will tell you.” Many people came and prostrated at that great man’s feet. The sun set, and the hordes of people slowly ended in darkness. It was totally dark, and the sadhu and that man were in that particular hut. The saint excited and called him out of the hut, so he followed him. It was a full moon, so all landscaping could be seen clearly. The saint asked him, “Can you see it?” as he pointed to a tree.

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“Can you see it?” he asked as he pointed to a bush. My dear man, the saint continued, “this is the cause of their happiness. This big tree never thinks or feels sorrowful about not becoming a small bush. And this small bush does not feel bad that it won’t become this big tree. Everyone has their own qualities. We don’t have to compare. Our comparison itself is the cause for the sorrow. When you look at the people, those who are financially or politically leading you, you’ll feel jealous of them. When you look at the people who’re striving to make their bread and butter, you’ll get the ego. When you mimic somebody, you will either lose your own personality”. “Unless we follow such great people as Swami Vivekananda, how can we grow? Because they are the inspiration”, one man asked me. Then I said, “At present, we are discussing about happiness, not about success. Your question will be answered in ‘How to be Successful’. And to let you know, it is not possible to reveal all of it in one book”. “The worst of times often create the best opportunities (to earn),” says Donald Trump.

MY FOUR RUPEES “He who loves most spends most; He who hoards much loses much,” says Tao. In a small town of India, a seven year old boy was sitting at a bus stop weeping. Of course, in all local buses, a conductor will be there. He wanted to go to 85

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a place called Koti in Hyderabad, but lost the ten rupees he had. “Don’t worry, my bus will cross there and go further,” the conductor said. So he gave the boy a ticket for six rupees, and he still wept. He asked, “What’s your problem?” The boy said, “With the extra four rupees I had, I could have used it for some chocolate or some toys. But I don’t have it, so I’m sorrowful.” A child never hoards. 60-70% of our problems will come from greed. It’s all about what we lack. That unsatisfied heart can never have happiness. Once I went to Chennai as a guest of a multibillionaire. I was giving lectures and I saw his sorrowful face. He told me that he lost 400,000 Rupees in his business. His wife was serving me lunch. I was talking to her and said, “I’m sorry that your husband lost 400,000 Rupees.” She laughed and said, “Swamiji, don’t believe his words. He lives in a separate world. He didn’t incur any loss.” “Why would he say this to me?” I asked. She was trying to control her laughter like anything. “My dear sir,” she said, “He’s crazy. He thinks that this year he’s going to incur 100,000 Rupees profit. When he heard he lost 500,000 rupees, then it felt like it was a loss for him.”

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Love is everything in this life. If you lack love, then there enters the greed. There are those who incur and hoard money, bank balances, name and fame, for their own benefit. If one gets all that, then they feel secure, they think they won’t have the fear of the future. People think they have only one life, and if they get in an accident, their money will protect them. Only those who fear tomorrow will hoard money. For those in love, this one day is enough. In their language, no tomorrow exists. Once someone has a sorrowful presence, only they can think of happiness in the future. Even the slightest bit of happiness he receives now propels him immediately to the future. In happy moments, neither you remember the past, nor think about the future. In happiness, time ends. In sorrow, time extends. Every second equals an hour. Such poor people will be waiting for the sun to rise so that we may end our sorrows. All of their feelings, thoughts, and emotions are for the future. If today is not proper, how do you expect tomorrow to be beautiful? That’s why today they want a house and a bank balance. Acquiring anything cannot get you out of your fixations. Because of the present sorrowfulness, we become greedy and worry about our future. This is how this life is linked with this story of four rupees. Do you want to acquire the love or live happily? Final advice, that which belongs to the present time, is the motto. Then only can you acquire it. But think, there should be no problem to the society from your desires. If everyone in your society can be happy with your thoughts, emotions, and feelings, then only have you attained your goal. 87

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YOUR BEAUTIFUL PROBLEMS “Old troubles are always better, at least you are well acquainted with them.” One gentleman was going through so many problems. In Hindu philosophy, it’s called, ashtakashtāha, 8-folded probems: ill health, the nagging wife says he doesn’t give anything to her parents and brothers, the elder daughter came to deliver a baby in his house and all the dowry which was offered to him was not paid, in a 2-wheeler accident his child broke his leg, his younger son broke his treasure box, took all the money and went to the film business in Madras, his business partners are showing him wrong accounts, and they are hoarding money from the business. Finally, the shop owner he hired sent him a court notice to vacate it. Oh that poor old man, he couldn’t handle the problems. He wanted to go to a monastery and happily meditate there. He went to a monastery, and asked for the ochre robes. “Unless you get permission from your wife, we’re not giving them to you. That’s the tradition,” the monks said. The man didn’t know what to do. He found a tree and sat there. And a crow shit on his head. Then he wanted to go to the village, but scary dogs chased him. He wanted to commit suicide as he was vexed from his life. The man wanted to be stable in his plans. He thought that one way or another he wanted to be saved, “Better if I commit suicide.” He got the necessary items, a rope to hang himself and some 88

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kerosene oil. He poured it on himself, lit himself, and tied himself to a branch on the river. He jumped, thinking either he will jump to his death, hang, or burn to death. And he had a pistol that he fired on the rope and let himself go. He fell on a branch into the water and made it. Because no one really wants to commit suicide. Only through depression we think this way, but nobody really wants to do it because they love this body. Finally, this gentleman really wanted to commit suicide. He gathered a lot of wood. He wanted to lie on the wood and light himself. The village people came and said, “If you want to die, we have no objection. But go outside the village or to the next village, because the stinking smell of your burning body will make us vomit.” Then, this so-called gentlemen went far away from this village and sat under a tree giving bad words to the God Almighty in 1000 different names. He said to God, “Oh God, you don’t have common sense. You go on giving unlimited problems. Do you think we are donkeys to carry the karmic patters? And you go on sending us the fresh ones.” God said, “Not only you, everyone thinks the same thing, that I’m only giving trouble to him only, to the maximum extent. Bring all your sins to the end of this village where there is a temple, where you can keep all the bundles of your sins.” The man was very happy. He took his bundle of sins on his head and walked towards the temple. He saw so many others carrying their packet. Whenever he looked at those carrying smaller packets he looked 89

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happy, and when he saw that his bundle was bigger than some, he was sad. Finally they all reached the temple. Everyone kept their bundle of sins in the middle of the temple, and our gentlemen started thinking, “Okay. I may only require a smaller packet when he calls for three. But I don’t know what kind of troubles are there in it. It will be all new for me. I have got a nagging wife who knows that in the kicking wife bundle, she’ll be there. All of my son-inlaws wanted to extract money from me. Every time they play a new game. But after so many years I came to know the strategies they applied upon me to extract the money. But in this new bundle, if I acquire new son-in-laws, it will take me a lot of time to understand them. Of course, at present my business is going into loss due to my partner’s cunningness or lack of sincerity. And this is not new to me. In a new package, I may get a well-furnished and well-running business. But if I don’t know the technical aspects of it, I will lose everything.” Our acquainted sorrows are better than our unacquainted sorrows. God started counting one, two, and three. When he pronounced three, our gentleman jumped on his own bundle. No one fought with him, as they all wanted their own bundle. A voice came out during dinner, “You people were complaining about your sorrows. When you had a chance you couldn’t change your bundles”. They all wanted to leave the temple and stampeded out.

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“Oh, all this is a dream,” our gentleman said. “Let me go back. I have the answer. Let me face the trouble I’m supposed to face.” If a mother gives birth to a child who has epilepsy, does she want to get rid of him and get a new child? It’s absurd. It never happens, because every mother loves her child. So, if you want to be happy, accept your problems, consider them beautiful because you are acquainted with them and can solve them easily, today or tomorrow. Finally, learn that divine lesson in all that happens to you.

DON’T BE IN WILD DREAMS Once I saw a book named “Think and Grow Rich,” by Napoleon Hill. In his book, he describes that you don’t have to do any work. Just close your eyes, and feel that a Rolls-Royce is parked in your driveway. Of course you will get the car if you are totally faithful to your thoughts. This is the misunderstanding of the truth. You become what you think, but not, what you think, you become. Your personality is full of your thoughts, your I-ness, your control over your limbs, and your intelligent way of living in this society. As per the thinking, movement happens in the body. And you will get the result. It’s a natural phenomenon. But just sitting there closing your eyes thinking you will get cars and lots of money, you cannot reach anywhere. One of the American publishers was ready to print Hill’s book. Even prior to sending this book out, so many advertisements went on. So many people eagerly waited for this book. Because who doesn’t 91

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want this? This is the weakness of the human, and these people are cheaters taking advantage of them. On the first inauguration of his book, Napoleon Hill, the writer, was sitting in a book shop signing his autograph on the first 100 copies. Meanwhile, Henry Ford, the maker of the Ford car arrived at the book shop. With a question on his face, he asked the shopkeeper about the new book. “The writer is there, if you want to talk to him, you can,” the shopkeeper said. Ford entered and stood in front of Hill and looked at him from top to bottom. Then he inquired, “This book which you are attesting, is it written by you?” “Sir, yes, it’s a very useful book, take it,” Hill said. “Sir, how did you come to this shop, by city bus, hired a car, or do you have your own car?” Ford asked. Hill asked, “What is my connection with how I came to arrive here with this book?” Then Ford gave him his visiting card and said, “I am the famous producer of the Ford car, but I never got any of this by only thinking. With sweat and toil, I worked hard in my life. Of course, thinking is necessary. But not applying it to any work becomes void. I will certainly take your book when you come to me by your own car. And you’re not supposed to purchase the car, nor are you supposed to purchase

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the car by the money you earn from this book. I want you to earn your car just by thinking about it.” Strong will, regularity in the work, and sincerity in the work will certainly make you reach the hilltop. Basically it requires thinking, but not only thinking will make you attain all these points. Some teenage students came to me, and said, “Swamiji, I want to be in Indian Administrative Services.” These are the difficult examinations that people take to become aristocrats and administrators of the state and national government. For the third time, a boy failed the tenth grade to be eligible to take these tests. The moment he takes the book into his hand, he goes into deep slumber. These children and their parents asked me if there was any mantra or any tantra that they can do. No such thing exists. Of course, even if it does exist, without the strives and struggles of the human being, it cannot be activated. I said, “My dear boy, there is a gulf in between your thinking and applying it practically. That which you can’t see right in front of your eyes, the tenth grade, you can’t reach. To be in IAS, you must compete with highly intelligent people. For that, you have to sharpen your brain by learning the art of awareness and alertness”. The dreams which are good, are dreams. Those which are not pleasant, are nightmares. One who dwells in nightmares, will be useless. Everywhere he 93

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will meet difficulty, and he will not overcome them. So to be happy, live in the facts of the life. In Christian countries, a movement started where every Sunday after the prayers, the members will gather and tell each other their desires and problems. The others will console them, and tell them that it’s all in their imagination, that no problem exists. This is the strong way of creating the will. It gives them a boost, but facts cannot be denied. One day a female member asked a child, “What happened? One of our members is your father, but he hasn’t attended the meetings for the past two Sundays.” The boy said, “My dad is sick. That’s why he didn’t come.” “That’s nonsense,” the female said, “He’s not sick. By telling himself so, and this self-hypnotism, he has become sick.” And next Sunday, when she saw the boy, she asked again, “Where is your dad? Is he sick?” “The problem has gotten more complicated. He thought in the beginning that he was sick, now he started to believe that he died. He couldn’t open his eyes. We couldn’t wait for him to wake up, so we buried him just now.”

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There is a lot of distance between your imagination and your facts of life. In actual life, society will be asking for your qualifications for any of your desires to be fulfilled. But what about those who don’t have the qualifications? How are they going to get their desires fulfilled? Those who dwell in wild dreams, when they face society, they become a big failure. A boy may not be able to qualify for 10th grade after four or five times failing the test. Instead of going to class, he goes to the cinema. He dreams that one day these big corporation owners like Tata will see him, marry him to one of their daughters, and he will also be a multi-billionaire. I know a boy who somehow dragged his studies up to the fifth class and didn’t know the alphabet of his mother tongue. His voice stammers, he works as a helper to a mechanic, eat all the food in his home, and spend all his money for films, cigarettes and CDs. He does nothing and thinks he’ll marry Aishwarya Rai, the Miss Universe who is the now the famous Indian actress. Those with wild dreams and no qualifications in this world, will certainly drown themselves in sorrow. Friedrich Nietzche used to serve Wagner as his disciple learning music from him. In those days, Wagner was considered to be a magician in music. Just as in Hindu epics when Lord Krishna used to start playing his flute, so many people, even animals used to gather around him for his music. His wife was a beauty in herself. Actually, she fell in love with him only because of his music. This fellow Friedrich, who came to get some knowledge from him, fell in love with Wagner’s wife. Friedrich didn’t have Wagner’s 95

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handsomeness nor his heart of music; actually he is an ugly man. Wagner’s wife laughed at him. “You must be a fool, even if Lord Almighty comes and tries to compete with Wagner, I’ll choose him. I never thought God himself could be more handsome than him, more beautiful than him. Whenever I listen to his music, I go to some subtle worlds. His music is the reason that I married him. Sometimes I wonder if I deserve to be his wife. Who would choose you, who cannot compare at all with him?” Once Friedrich was negated by Wagner’s wife, his ego was hurt. He became a female chauvinist, and starting hating the entire womanhood. He negated all that indicates femininity. He started taking vengeance on the entire womanhood. He started saying that compassion, charity, love, non-violence, amicability, and surrender, all this is useless. These are what the cowards use to hide their weaknesses. All this is propagated by Gautama the Buddha. So he started hating Buddha himself. He started writing that, due to Gautama the Buddha, the Indians became cowards, lost their dynasty, and started doing slavery. He started saying that all these socalled renunciates are more useless than the slaves. So it’s better to be aggressive, be ready for the war, and attain what you want. Those people who have weaknesses, and who cannot attain that which they crave, when it has becomes totally impossible for them, then they will be hurt like tigers, and become maneaters. Since Friedrich doesn’t have the bodily strength to become a soldier, 96

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nor any creativity to be a great artist, all his drawbacks and faults led toward the entire society. He’s become the center of attraction for more congenital idiots. The first one among them is George Bernard Shaw, he’s also an ugly personality, very egoistic, a great poet and writer, and a great critic. If he didn’t have the ego, the whole world would have respected him equal to William Shakespeare. A woman named Annie Besant came from England to India and joined the Freedom Fighting Congress party. Shaw proposed her, and she said she had better work to do than to get married to a man. That beautiful woman had physical beauty and a strong heart too. The Indian Congress Party fighting for freedom from the Britishers chose Besant, a Britisher herself, to lead that party. See how dynamic she was; she founded The Theosophical Society and wanted to give the world a teacher who is perfect in all the aspects. She found this Brahmin boy and adopted him, because he had the potential to be a messiah. That was Jiddu Krishnamurti, who refused to become the star of the east. She was developing, but Shaw was jealous of her. He tried to grow, but started criticizing everyone to cover his own inferiority complex. As egoistic as he was, but his poetry was wonderful. And finally, Nobel gave him a prize. Shaw gave a press statement, but refused the prize. When he refused such a great honor and so much money, it became big news around the world. From every country he started receiving letters. Every day the 97

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press used to come to interview him in various ways. For 10-12 days, this was the big news being discussed. Finally, Shaw said that he’s going to give the money to a charitable trust where it can be used for the good of society, and that also became big news. All the media covered the event while he received the check. His honorary function went on beautifully, and again for 5 days, he became the news. They found out that Shaw himself owned the charitable trust. When they asked him about it, he said “When one day it comes out in the paper, the next day nobody remembers. Without spending a dime, looking out for ourselves, we need some sort of advertisement. This is the way of becoming famous.” Friedrich and Shaw, both were unsuccessful and they could not overcome their weaknesses. They both wanted to take the same vengeance to this society, and this world. Such another personality is Adolf Hitler. First, he was driven away from his school of architecture, and fine arts schools would never take him. Only one who could free-hand a circle 180 degrees could be considered an artist. But his unstable mind prevented him from drawing a straight line. So, he joined the German military and then the 1st World War came. He was so lazy that when he had to go into the warfront, he would complain from back or neck pain to get out of it, until they finally kicked him out. He didn’t have a job, so he gathered a group of 18 soldiers who were abandoned, fired, or driven away. Hitler started brainwashing them in the National Socialist Nazi party, and lectured them like this, “We 98

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are the Nordics. We are the ancient and very pure race. We are here to rule the world, that’s why we are so fair in color, tall, and handsome. This is why everyone else wants to look like us.” Actually, Hitler himself is considered ugly and short. A German army was created by him. In the Bible, Jews are said to be the ancient race sent by God. So Hitler’s eye was on the Jews and he started to kill them, suffocating them in the gas chambers. Now Hitler had the power in his hand. He designed some buildings that were ignored by the Germans, but he was in control. As ugly as they were, had to be built. At the time of the fall of the Berlin wall, all of them were destroyed. He was asked, “Why do you use gas chambers?” Hitler said, “I don’t want to waste one bullet.” He was cruel, considered as paranoia in psychology. One under this disease feels they came to this earth to rule it. If they feel someone superseding him, they will immediately kill them. He slept alone; he didn’t even sleep with his own wife. It was discovered that Hitler got the disease of paranoia from a prostitute. He had a virus that eats a portion of their brain and causes it to malfunction. They can’t live in the truth, so they keep on living in their dreams. If you go on living in dreams, neither can you be happy, nor can you go on living in this society. Accept this life as it is, as a gift from the Almighty Lord. Work hard sincerely, and don’t ever worry about what is not possible with you. It is not your fault. But please be simple, Superman is the fantasy for the inferiors. Those inferior people can

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only imagine about Superman. Man is required here, not Superman. “Be simple and happiness will be yours. He who kisses the joy as it flies lives in eternity’s sunrise.”

I CANNOT UNDERSTAND The ancient Sanskrit text says that the Rig Veda syllables will marry those who are alert and aware. And the Sāmā Veda mantras also reach near him. It means that to those who are alert and aware, all knowledge reaches them. Scholarship and study doesn’t mean one can go into the meaning of the scriptures. What you do does not matter, but what matters is if you do it with alertness and awareness. Life is a chance, and if you can make use of it properly, that means you know the art of living. All animals are programmed, except the human beings. Man is utterly free, as nature never gives any reasoning or intelligence to animals or plants. When food comes in front of them, they eat. When nature propels them, only in particular seasons will they mate. Nature takes care of them. Like those dogs which live in the Himalayas, they will have lots of hair on their body. Those dogs that live in tropical countries don’t have much hair. Carnivores like tigers and lions have long teeth to tear upon the animal flesh. But the vegetarian animals don’t have any 100

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fangs. This is nature’s benevolent way to sort itself out. As for humans, we were given reasoning. Man has to make proper use of this reasoning. A dog can meet his brother or sister and have a family with them, but it is impossible for a human being to produce healthy children with their brothers or sisters as they will be born crippled. When nature has given you the reasoning, you should apply it to every second of your life, and be very much aware and alert. The King Dhrutarāstra, father of 101 children, could not sleep one night because he was facing his greatest war. He got impatient and couldn’t control his children because he knew they are not on the righteous path. When he called Vidura, his younger son, to him, his four other brothers came. Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumāra and Sanatkujāta, they are known as the four rishis, the four ancient seers. Dhrutarāstra wanted to clarify some of his spiritual doubts, and he asked them, “What is death? How do you definite it?” “Lethargy itself is the death,” the four rishis said. To understand this in-depth, I will give you some examples. You come out of your house, take your keys, and lock the door and go. But after taking a few steps, you doubt if you locked the door. You go back and check. In the same way, sometimes we put our spectacles away, don’t remember where we put them, and go on searching for it. People say they don’t have good memories, but when they have total 101

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concentration, it happens. Why? At the time of work, you are unable to concentrate. While brushing teeth, you’ll be thinking of going to the toilet, when going to the toilet, you’ll be thinking of going to work, when you’re going to work, you’ll be thinking of coming home, and when you’re at work, you think about going home. It means that your mind and body are not together, as the mind is roaming around so much. When the body and mind are not together, then we say a part is missing in you. So how can we call you a complete human? If you are not a complete human being, you cannot obtain the absolute reality, which is complete. Imagine a heavily flowing river on a rocky land. Fungus formed on the rocks, and you’re supposed to take a holy dip in it. Your blood may clot from the coldness of the Himalayan peaks. You must be careful of slipping on the fungus on the rocks, and be aware of the heavy current. With alertness, awareness and consciousness, you will step. This is the way of living for the yogis. It doesn’t mean you have to know any āsanas or pranayāmas to live as a yogi. We all get chances in this life. At 10 o’clock at night, a hungry man went to a hotel, named Beauty and the Beast. When he knocked on the door, an ugly woman with messy hair and crooked teeth yelled at him, and asked “What are you doing here? What do you want?” “I’m hungry,” the man said. “So the beggars are also knocking on the door late night demanding food!” the angry woman said. She 102

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refused him and slammed the door shut. Again there was a knock, she answered, saw the same man standing in front of her, and she got angrier. “I’m sorry, I want to talk to Beauty now, not the Beast,” the man said. Everyone gets chances in life, and when we lose it we blame others. Because of your own unawareness, you are drowning yourself in sorrow. One woman came to me one day, “Swamiji, when somebody insults me or calls me a bad word, sometimes I don’t understand it right away. Later on, if I think about it I can understand it. If I knew on the spot I could have taught them a good lesson.” So I told her a story that happened during the time of Buddha in India. This preacher’s propagation was spreading everywhere in two different cults. One belongs to Hīnayāna, a small boat where he alone can cross the tormenting ocean of this life. And the other is Mahāyāna, a big ship which can take himself and many people. Monasteries were established and called as Buddha Ārāma, where you can rest. Since their methods of spiritual practice are different, scholars go from one ārāma to the other to argue scriptures. One day Hīnayānamata Bikshu, a saint, came out for an evening stroll. Meantime, Mahāyānamata Bikshu also came out and asked, “Oh my brother, where are you going?” Hīnayānamata Bikshu said, “Wherever my legs take me.”

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Mahāyānamata Bikshu didn’t know what that meant and asked his Guru. His Guru told him he could have asked the other saint what he meant. He didn’t remember to ask what that meant at the time, but next time he would be prepared. The next day came and Mahāyānamata Bikshu asked, “Oh my brother, where are you going?” Hīnayānamata Bikshu said, “Wherever my wind takes me.” He didn’t know how to answer back to that response, because he prepared himself for the answer, ‘wherever my legs take me.’ When the saint came back home, his Guru asked what happened and he told him. “You fool,” the Guru said. On the third day, the brothers met again with, “Oh my brother, where are you going?” This awareness and alertness can be attained by just anyone, but spontaneity cannot be attained easily. You may be a great penant, but without awareness and alertness you cannot attain the absolute truth. I know a few people who forget to zip their fly, and talk about superhuman energies. I know those people who have a lot of dirt in their eyes and on their face, and talk about flying, entering into fire, and other superhuman energies. They are ignorant and use ‘I don’t know’ as a sentence to escape from responsibilities. The sentence indicates egolessness. They use their ignorance as a way to escape. Though

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they may talk about great things, they forget the simple things. “A man of No-Mind is a man with presence of mind; And a man of mind, a man with memory is a man who is absent.” One who is a meditator, one who lost time in his meditation, for him, no time exists. When the mind is working for him, then only will he know the time. So all is present time for him, neither he has past nor any future. One whose mind is working will fear his past experiences, will brood over and decide his beautiful future. That means he’s never available in his present space and time. When he’s not available in present time, and always living in past and future, then can you call him a living being? That’s why Sanaka, Sanandana, Sanatkumāra, and Sanatsujāta, the four brothers created from Brahma’s mind, said, “Lethargy itself is the death.” “Inner calmness helps us to make the right decisions.” There is a saying in yoga, when you keep your legs warm, your belly soft, and your head cool, then no disease can reach you. And if a doctor wants to approach you with some advice, grab a baseball bat. So for all the insults which you are facing, and all these cunning talks which you cannot understand, it means you are not meditating enough. Be cautious, be alert and you will understand everything. 105

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PROBLEMS OF THE WOMAN First God created Adam. Then he looked at him and said, “I think I could do better if I tried again.” So he created Eve. There are so many problems that woman has. I don’t have time nor place to discuss them all, but know this: all men’s problems are linked with women, and all women’s problems are linked with men. That’s why there’s a saying in the Indian dialect Telugu: “It’s better to be born as a tree in the forest, than to be born as a woman (in India).” Practically speaking, when looking around there are more problems surrounding the woman than the man. And I still haven’t seen one case of a woman dying of a heart attack. Women have greater receiving power, and bodily and mental resistance to withstand any odds. Whereas men lack it. That is why women can progress faster in spirituality than men. All the social problems can be solved easily because a man thinks as a man, and a woman thinks as a woman. They cannot go into the outfit of their partners, but if a man knows what a woman knows completely, he is in her body, mind and heart. And if a woman knows his personality and character, they can live together happily. What is the difference between a man and a woman? 106

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Man and Woman 1. About an inert object or sentient being, if one wanted to know, certainly she must be a she, because man doesn’t have any interest to know anything in-depth. 2. Woman’s mind is full of imaginations, but man’s mind is more practical. 3. Woman cannot understand the mental status of a man, but a man can easily understand a woman’s heart. 4. It is a woman who shows interest in new things or abnormal things, but man always want to go into the routine. 5. Men are always eager to purchase the new technological instruments, but woman will not have such interest on such gadgets. 6. When men and women go to the market, men always decide prior to the purchase what to purchase and what not to purchase, and they always go by the list. When women go shopping, the old list may escape from the new list. 7. Women always give importance to the security, men never care about it. 8. To do our work or other’s work, women will have more confidence in themselves. Men will not have that much. 9. Men think that having their own car and so many properties are status indications. By that, they think they will be respected. But the woman always looks to their husband as their status symbol.

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“Tears: the hydraulic force by which masculine will power is defeated by feminine water,” says the Reader’s Digest.

KNOWLEDGE OR IGNORANCE “The mind is like the stomach, it is not how much you put into it that counts, but how much it digests,” says Albert Jay Nock. The mind is like a stomach, how much you put into it is not as important as what you digest. That should be known as the knowledge or the digested essence. Bhahavadīn Naksband, was a great Sufi Fakir, an Islamic saint and scholar. Khalīl Ashraf Jāda, came to him one day and said, “I went to so many places, and served so many Gurus, and studied various paths to make us reach the absolute goal. Of all this knowledge I gathered from these Gurus, I learned a lot. Please give me initiation and allow me to be your disciple. May I drink the nectar from your stream of knowledge and quench my thirst. In that way, may I learn tarîka, (in Urdu, it is called) the mystic way.” Bhahavadīn didn’t answer him. He just indicated that it was time for lunch, and they went. They sat together, and biryani, rice and mutton, was served. Bhahavadīn was making Khalīl eat one plate of food after the other, until finally the vegetable salad was forced on him. Khalīl was yelling from the belly pain, but Bhahavadīn forced him to the maximum extent. In the beginning, Bhahavadīn forced him to eat, and he was happy. When his belly started to get full, even in fear of Bhahavadīn, he still ate. With his belly in pain, he started rolling on the ground. Finally 108

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Bhahavadīn said, “Khalīl, when you came to me, your intellect was filled with totally indigested knowledge. Now you are suffering with indigested food in your belly! When your intellectual instrument is overloaded and you cannot digest that knowledge, you will become sick.” That is spiritual sickness, where one eats, the undigested knowledge piles up in his mind, and lifelong he suffers from indigestion of the knowledge. Then afterwards, in the presence of Bhahavadvn, Khalīl gave up his so-called knowledge and digested all that which is necessary for one to live happily, and became a great Sufi Fakir. Some people say ignorance is bliss. Ignorance gives the strength, knowledge gives the weakness. But some people say, without knowledge, this human being is an animal, and knowledge is the way to absolute reality. Even for those who live in worldly ways, without common sense they will get cheated over and over again. And there and those who don’t understand anything and go on giving trouble to others. In such countries like India, with slums, you will meet them. One mother-in-law tried to drive her daughter-in-law away from the house for not producing boys. In the egg of the mother, the XX chromosome is there. In the sperm of the father is the XY chromosome. If a man’s sperm contains X chromosome and if that sperm mingles with the egg of a woman, a female child will be born. But if a man’s sperm contains Y chromosome and when that sperm mingles with the egg, a male child will be born. The sex of the child depends on the man’s 109

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sperm. Then why does that mother-in-law want to drive away the daughter-in-law? Is this not ignorance? “Wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth knowledge, increaseth sorrow.” We cannot say that for some people knowledge gives sorrow, and for others, ignorance gives sorrow. If we know a few things in this world, we can be happy. But it’s also true that if we know a few things, we can never be happy. Science has been developed and it has brought us more comforts and a luxurious life. But when science development went to the side of destruction, it brought out atomic energy. Slowly, this energy is pushing this planet to the Third World War. Now can you say that science has brought us happiness? It has certainly brought us comforts, not happiness. This is the problem of the stupid human being, not the problems of the animals. This mess is created by the human. When we apply the human ways to the animals, then you can understand. One small rabbit was playing in the grass. A fox came, and the rabbit was so small that the fox never saw him before. The rabbit asked the fox, “Who are you?” “I’m called as fox, and if I want I can eat you,” fox said. “Do you have an identity card or driver’s license with you? If not, I won’t believe you,” rabbit said.

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So the fox went to the king to get a certificate signed by him to say he was an authentic fox. He started reading out his certificate in a wonderful language and beautiful voice to the rabbit, all about the fox and all his glory. So over and over he read the same certificate. After 3-4 lines, the rabbit realized that he was the one who could eat him, so he ran away. The fox was very sad, and she went to the cave of the lion. One deer was talking to the lion. The same stupid question came, the deer asked the lion, “Do you have a identify card or driver’s license to prove it?” The lion yawned and said, “If I’m not hungry, you or me, we don’t have to search for any certificate. But if I’m hungry, I don’t need any papers, because I am going to eat you.” The deer ran away to the king and asked, “Is this what you wrote?” He showed the certificate to the rabbit and the rabbit asked, “Why didn’t you tell me all this?” King said, “I thought you were going to show it to the human beings so I wrote it. The animals learned all this from the stupid human being. They have become crazy.” Finally, neither knowledge nor ignorance can give us the bliss. As long as we live on this planet, circumstances, pain, agony, food, comfort, air, water, whatever we receive from this earth, we have to learn the message of the universe. Immediately, please apply it to your life. If you’ve gathered some useless knowledge, give it up. Reject all that which is 111

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useless. Don’t be ignorant and get cheated by the society. Try to find a balance between knowledge and ignorance. Life is like a tight-rope walk. Strive hard, struggle hard,and happiness is yours.

PLEASE DON’T TRY TO DO ANYTHING PERFECTLY “He who never makes a mistake never made a discovery,” says Bill Brandley. A man went to a pet shop, asked for 67 mice, 23 bandicoots, 17 reptiles, and 136 cockroaches. “Do you have them?” “I have four or five white rats, but not for taming. One multi-billionaire who is cracked out has a python as his pet. For that, I brought these rats. Why don’t you get a puppy or a small cat for a pet?” the pet shop owner said. That man was irritated, “I don’t want any pets. My landlord asked me to vacate his home in 10 days, and it should exactly as it was rented to me two years back.” When the tenant moved in, all of these vermin where there. He wanted to return the house back exactly as it was when he rented it two years ago. I worked for sometime as a quality controller in Jayco Industries, a company that produces wristwatches and clocks. 112

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I had a personal interview with the chairman of the company one day. I asked him what made him successful in his field. He said, “I work hard. That’s the main point. If I face 100 problems in one day, I think and take decisions how it can be solved 100%. But, if I think properly I can take only 10 decisions daily, and 90 will remain as they are. But if I react immediately, 10 problems will boomerang, and 90 problems can be solved. If I am fast and furious, I can complete 90% of my work. If I try to perfect everything, I can only do 10% of the work. That is the secret of my success.” Those people who wanted to be perfect in their life go through vast knowledge, information, but they lose that which is very necessary for the life. Like the professor in psychology may be perfect in his subject, but when he comes home he fights with his wife and beats his children. Is this the perfect way of living? One who thinks “I should make everything perfect,” leads to neurosis. Neurosis means the psychological fixations enters the nervous system, and then a nervous breakdown happen. Such people can become psychos and wash their house and hands 24 hours a day, a cleanliness maniac, and both will never be clean enough to them. I know an accountant who used to go to his work one hour prior to his scheduled duty and leave one hour later. He’s sincere about his work, but it is a dream world. He talks to his accounts and does numerology in his dreams. If he doesn’t have any work, he’ll bring 113

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out his old books and further calculate. This is called as arithmomania, and it is a type of compulsive neurosis. For such people, this world disappears. In its place, their fantasy world comes out. Depending on this neurosis itself, some cartoon books such as Alice in Wonderland came out. In that character’s life, storks and playing cards, cups, cakes, cats, everything, is alive and talking. So my dear man, never try to do anything perfectly. Please do as per your capacity, because perfection is impossible in this universe. Don’t make it a psychological disease. “It’s foolish to expect perfection; it doesn’t exist.”

YOU CARRY YOUR WEIGHT “Blame not anyone else for their suffering if thou wish to be happy.” If you really want to be happy, never blame anyone saying they are the cause for the sorrow in you. You have to take your own responsibility, and then only can you attain the happiness. When you blame somebody, saying that because of them you have sorrow, you are throwing all of the responsibility onto their head. If he can be the cause of your sorrow, then why can’t he be the cause of your happiness? Because no single person in this universe is the cause of anyone’s sorrow. From every human being, you’ll receive good and bad, happiness and sorrow. You should know the art of extracting happiness from him. Still if you’re not able to see any good in others, it means that you are blind. When you try to blame 114

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others, it means that you have given your freedom onto his hand, and he holds your remote control. When he wants to make you happy, he’ll press a button. When he wants to make you sad, he’ll press another button. Are you not a competent, sentient being? Why do you always say he is the cause for my sorrow? Don’t be a slave. Be a proud owner of your own personality. When you go to these astrologers, gypsy fortune tellers, or those tarot card readers with your problem all they say in the beginning is: everyone is happy. There is a subtle ego here, saying that people are coming to them, resorting to using them. See, 8 year old Jerry went to school and asked his teacher, “Miss, if we do good deeds, will we be punished for it?” “No, my dear boy, it will never happen,” she said, all good deeds will be honored. “If someone can’t do some work and we help them to do it, is it not a good deed?” Jerry asked. “Yes, of course,” the teacher said. “Then, when I did it, why did my mom beat me?” asked Jerry. “What good deed did you do?” she asked. “My younger brother wanted something from the table and I gave it to him. He started weeping.

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Mother never praised me for my work,” Jerry revealed. “What did you give him?” she asked. “A green chili,” Jerry said. If you want to be happy, neither try to do the good nor the bad. When you are disciplined, conscious, you have no fixations, and when your personality becomes so pure, the spring of happiness comes from your inner heart. Whatever happens through you becomes good. Some peoples’ cause of sorrow is that they crave for the respect in society. They think that they are great scholars and imminent people, but this society is not recognizing them. I ask you, why do you need a certificate from others? Is this not enough? Those with an inferiority complex, without a good opinion of themselves nor respect for themselves, always crave the certificate of others. A man is walking down the street, and gets saluted. He takes it for granted and thinks all else will salute me. If at all you are respectable, you don’t have to be saluted. If you are not eligible, it means you are not grown enough to receive the salutations from others. Try to carry your own weight and grow, then happiness will be yours. “Hope for the best and expect the worst.” Why are we not able to take our own responsibility? Hindrances are in our moods and emotions.

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“Emotions and moods are the enemies of understanding.” So come out of your emotions and moods and come into the truth. Try to take the responsibility of your own selves, and you can be happy.

SAME GAUGE FOR EVERYONE “It may be that men are not equal in all respects, but they are equally men,” says Hugh Gaitskell. At the time of the Old Testament in the Middle East, people used to practice two kinds of scales, common measure and royal measure. Royal measure is more than the common measure. When people used to pay taxes to the king, they paid in royal measure. When the king paid the salaries to his court members, he used to pay in the common measure. When the government took out a loan, it would be in common measure, so the principle would be smaller. The dividend and interest would be in common measure, but when giving loans to the people, it would be paid back in royal measure. Nowadays, these gross measurements have disappeared from common practice in public view, but they have remained in our psychological mind. If a neighbor’s child creates a disturbance, they say the parents aren’t able to discipline them. When our child does the same thing, we say, “Oh, he’s so cute, he’s a naughty boy.” Mentally, the gauge shifts for them and us. 117

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But what is love? Love is defined in the social aspect that if you find faults in your beloved, it’s still beautiful to you, because you love them. When you are jealous of the other, you cannot see the goodness in others. So the judgment should remain the same for all, us and them. Our needs, desires, luxuries, and our circumstances are in one gauge. And for others, we have a different gauge. If somebody is scolding you with bad words, try to see yourself in their place. Think for a moment, “Maybe if I was in their position, I may act more chaotic than him.” In this universe, everything changes. Maybe because of atmospheric changes, he may be sick, he may be in a bad mood, or for any other reason he said those words. But why do you gauge them so quickly that they have bad manners? Ten percent of the entire earth’s population will have one phobia or another. The peculiar personal fears are called phobias. A person with the disease who cannot remain in the daylight for too long nor can look directly into the sunlight is called photophobia. A person who always sits alone, always flutters and shivers like a leaf on a banyan tree is called ochlophobia. One who is very daring and can face any kind of dangers, but is afraid of a small street dog, or one who can kill a 3-foot serpent, but is afraid of a small mouse, is called zoophobia. From the childhood we formed our opinions which are recorded in our mind. With this data only, we analyze the things which are happening all around us. We may be able to digest some of our big experiences, but not all of our small ones. So our mind is a split personality, sometimes it wants it and sometimes 118

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not. And even in our own mind, we have so many gauges, so how are we going to fit ourselves in our gauges? So first, set right your gauge. Deeply think where the fault may have lied with you and take responsibility for it. In those areas where you are not responsible, give it up. Why should you take on that impression? It is 8 o’clock in the night, and 8 year old Jennifer was asked by her mother to go to the bathroom, not to wet her bed. She was forced to go to the bathroom, and the toilet basin became a devil to her that wanted to eat her ass. She ran to her mother in fear. Now she is grown with her own three children, but asks her husband to accompany her to the toilet. And he gets irritated by her whenever he has to do it. John and his friends entered into a private property, jumping the compound wall which has a red gate on it, and started picking apples from the trees. Meantime, a tamed dog of that house started chasing them. All the children ran away. The dog bit John so many times; he rolled on the ground and somehow managed to jump the gate. He was bedridden for ten days with a fever. Now he’s a father of three children, but whenever he sees a red gate, he shivers. This is called as anxiety fixation. In our life, we may have so many bitter experiences, and daily we get old. When our health deteriorates, or there is increasing pollution in the atmosphere, politics and society, gauges change and we cannot make proper judgment. Everyday this social life is becoming critical, analyzing and categorizing these 119

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human beings is becoming difficult, it’s impossible. So at this juncture, let’s just come to one gauge. The same way you put importance in your feelings and actions, use the same gauge for others. Please apply your thinking onto you. Have faith in others and in nature’s law, proper judgment for you, truth, charity, forbearance and compassion for others. Here’s the story of Dasharatha’s wife, the king of the Indian dynasty at the time, who had three wives. Queen Kaunsilya gave birth to Ram, the incarnation of Mahāvishnu, the eldest son. Sumitra, the second wife, is the mother of Lakshmana. Kaikayee gave birth to the third and forth sons, Bharata and Shatrughna. Kaikayee was the mother of Bharata, the third son, and the king had already promised the kingdom to him, which means she can become the main queen. Dasharatha’s promise to Kaikayee was against the tradition, as only the eldest son from the first wife could be king. Then some dirty thought came from Manthara, the servant, to Kaikayee, and told her that because her son is the third, not the oldest from the first wife, Kaikayee will never be the queen, only a servant. So, she went to Dasharatha, who was a good man to honor this, and asked for three things. Dharma, the righteous path, is made up of four legs of a bull: satyam - truth, daya - compassion, dāna - charity and tapas - penance. Kaikayee asked that through daya, compassion, he should give the dāna, the charity of the kingdom to her son, Bharata and herself. She asked that Ram, the tapas, be given and sent to the forest to do his sadhana. Bharata loved Ram very 120

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much, and was going to miss him. She said that in order for Dasharatha to remain living a life of dharma, satyam, which is truth in past, present and future, since he already promised the kingdom to Bharata, he must honor it. It’s a cunning way to get what she wanted in her own way, giving the wrong meaning to the text. She had two gauges, one for her son and herself, and another for the other son and the king. But if we let law and judgment come to us and dharma for others, we will live in the same gauge for all. In the end, Dasharatha did all she wanted, and nature ended up organizing everything accordingly for all parties. He ended up very sick missing Ram in the forest, died early of a heart attack, and Queen Kaikayee, became a widow. When Bharata came back to Ayodjya, the capital of Dasharatha’s kingdom, and came to know that in his name Ram went to the forest to do penance, he rejected his mother for her wrong deeds. He went through the pain for the death of his father, and went to the forest to ask Ram to take the throne. This cunning way carried itself to present day, so if you really want to be happy, keep the same gauge for yourself and for all.

IN THE LAP OF THE NATURE It was the time of British rule in India, and they started building railway stations and laying tracks. In a forest area, there was a railway station to be inaugurated, and the British governor of the state went to the opening. Thousands of forest dwellers 121

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came. All of them live for their bread and butter by gathering gum, honey, skins, herbs, etc. and they sell them in town. The governor started giving a lecture in English, and all those forest dwellers only knew their mother tongue. Still they listened very carefully, watched his body and mouth movements. There was a translator there and the governor asked a question to be translated in their mother tongue. “How much time will it take a human load of material to gather from the forest? Then to go to town, how much time will it take to go and come back? Please give us your timetable.” Sir, to carry the human load, it takes one day. To walk to the town, it takes three days, then back, three days, so it’s one week of work,” someone said. In the seven days that you do work, where miles together you walk, you can gather the load, sit on the train for four hours, sit in the town to sell the goods, then go home in the same day,” the governor said. “Then what are we going to do for these five days?” they asked. The man has invented the wheel to move things fast from one place to another and science developed steam engines. Now at this present time, we have bullet trains that travel at least 140 km/hr. From scientific development, humans are able to save time. What are we going to with the leftover time? That is the question of the baby in the lap of the nature. All these people work five days per week and in two days they will drive hours to the seashore. They go through traffic jams, enjoy the beach, and 122

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are tired when they come back. Is it the best way to use the leftover time? Be in the lap of the nature. When you save the time, you should know what to do with it. Or all these modern developments can bring you to lethargy. Once upon a time in India, if one wanted to go to Varanasi (Benares), the holiest city for pilgrims, entire families would give them a final send-off. The journey took months to travel in the deep forest with bugs, terrible diseases, calamities, muggers and smugglers. The family doesn’t know if he’s ever going to return. But the pilgrims were the luckiest people on earth who had lots of experience in life. Slowly they made their way to Varanasi, and if they returned back they will be a learned scholar of nature. Various foods, languages, cultures, way of living, clothing; there is plenty to learn. Maybe security was lacking at the time, but can you learn anything when you are secure? Maybe in 5-6 years one may return, as it takes one year to walk there and one year back from southern India. That five years in Varanasi equals the experience of fifty years in his own village. Humankind invented the wheel, then the horse carts came, and science went up to airplanes and more. Maybe it used to take one year to go to Varanasi, and now by flight it can takes few hours only from anywhere in India. But what is he losing? The pilgrim who walks the whole way, can enjoy the mountains, leaves, clouds, sunset, sunrise, stars in the night, birds chirping, bugs yelling, frogs croaking, streams flowing, whatever science has pulled him away from. One who is flying in the sky cannot even see the earth clearly, what to talk about 123

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the secrets of the earth? Is it not beautiful to be relaxed in the lap of Mother Nature, or is it better to fly away all from all those things? The choice is yours; it is up to you to be happy.

SAY NO TO “USE AND THROW” It so happened once I had to refill my ball-point pen. I asked my disciple, and he laughed as it was a use and throw item. “Not only that,” he said, “the shavers used for 3-4 shaves must be thrown away, you cannot replace the blade.” For a comfortable life, you can take the help of science. But when it becomes too much, extended to the maximum, problems come. One thing is lethargy. When vacuum cleaners came, people got too lazy to use broomsticks. Yes, science is successful to give you comforts but it creates a demonhood, and you will lose your mental peace. In western culture, all this use and throw was invented by Americans, and now it is a habit for them as they live in what is coined as a disposable culture. In the same way, they started doing it to people as well. All these inert things which are used and thrown leave a particular impression in the mind. When you constantly dispose of these live and sentient beings in your life, people can become mere pleasure-giving instruments, especially in the area of sex. Nature has created a benevolent lock in progeny, where pleasure is involved in sex. If this pleasure aspect was not there, humans would shy away from the responsibility of continuing the species as it is work to be in a family. Both men and women do this when 124

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they have children. They break up and dispose of their partners for another, and continue the pattern. A man has children from a former marriage, and a woman also has her children from a previous marriage. After their marriage together, they also produced more children. One day they were talking about the family and the wife said, “Your children and my children, all put together, are beating our children.” A human relationship can remain forever with all their flaws and positive aspects. Each individual has the aspects of their personality that must be respected. If this happens mutually, they can have a happy life. If you think of them as different, you’ll try to exploit that person. Then the family institution goes to the dogs and affects the entire society. So in the process of use and throw, up to what extent will you keep on doing this in your life? What about your old age? Who’s going to look after you with love? Now, I’m not here to insult the American culture nor preach what is sin and virtue. In these combined families or single parent families, we still can be happy. Many children do accept stepmothers and stepfathers as their parents, and the same goes for parents that accept their new children and love them dearly. In biological families, there are still situations where people dispose of their own parents and children too, leaving instability. But without stability in society, how can there be happiness? Humans have always disposed things and changed partners in history, but what about the neglect and responsibility 125

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that also gets disposed of? Of course, the things which we use and throw make your life comfortable and easy. But what about the impression it is going to leave on your mind? So, I request, not to allow that impression to enter your mind, and you can be happy.

JUST DO NOT HOLD ON TO ANYTHING It is said that old is gold. Anything new that is invented, inaugurated, or discovered, society will not accept it easily. Because people hang onto the habituated ones, and to accept the new one is very difficult. This is the way of fools in this world, and they will be taking abode in other’s intellectual capacities. They never feel or think about the truth, but great people thoroughly check up the old and the new and take up the very best. Even if you are aware, alert and conscious, still some mistakes happen to you because you are not depending on anybody. You take control of your own actions. “If I am the winner, I am the cause for it. If I am the loser, I am also the cause for it, but it has nothing to do with my happiness.” Those people who have taken this status of minds, are called as paramahansa, a legendary bird which divides milk from water. These people are like these birds. They divide the bad and take only good traditions out of it. Without analyzing good and bad, what is useful or not, or what is healthy or not, if one says, “It has been given by the elders, so I will follow it.” This mind is without thinking, and they will be called fools. You will surely have sorrow by hanging 126

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onto the cause. So if you want to be happy, be aware, alert and conscious. Gone are the days that Jar Alexander ruled Russia. The French Ambassador, Bismarck, was hosted in Jar’s palace, and was looking through a window outside. He saw a big playground in front of him, and saw a peculiar thing. He saw some soldier making rounds in one particular place. Bismarck asked Jar the king why he put him there what is he guarding? Even the king didn’t know, so he called the ultimate military commander, and all the subordinates. But nobody knew. After many days and through Jar’s trial, it went nowhere. Jar announced if anybody knows anything of this secret, he will be awarded lots of money. Meanwhile, a 105-year old woman came forward, “About eighty years back, Catherine the Queen came into this land and saw the cold season. Ice was falling and in the entire garden only one rose bush was alive with one flower. It was very cold, and she hired a soldier to protect this bush. In four shifts per day it continued on like this for eighty years.” At the time of the Muslim dynasty in India, the Mughuls used to kidnap the Hindu brides if they were beautiful, so a gunghat came out, a cloth to cover the face. So that’s why they used to marry their children in a very young age, because Mughuls dare

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not touch a married woman. Now time has changed, but their habits have not. Ram Mohan Roy, a great person, started working on the social problems to end the child marriage. But it still goes on in corners of India. Still in Rajestan and other places they will use the pallu of the saree, the flowing fabric, to cover their faces. So this is how people hold on to those things which are useless, and they make other people suffer. Once upon a time on this planet, there used to be plenty of forests full of those plants and trees which died, dried, and used to fall down on the earth. Those penants who dwelled in the forests used the wood for the fire worship and to keep warm. There were so many wild animals that died naturally, so they used their skins and ate their meat. Now, forests are dying and animals are being killed for their skin and meat, and they don’t have to cut down the trees for their usage. They said, “Our ancestors did it.” It was a different time, and forests and animals were in plenty. Everywhere on this planet, it is considered that if a gentleman dresses properly and wears a tie, coat, hat, bow, and shoes, he’s a great man. But if a man in a cold country cannot cover his neck, he’s considered a poor man. He has to protect his feet by wearing socks and shoes. But consider a man wearing all of these things in a tropical country, he’ll be considered as a fool. And imagine an Indian saint wearing only one small underwear on his waist, going to the coldest places like London, and remaining the 128

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same way telling that my elders wore these. I know some fools from south India who go to the northern states to visit holy places. Their entire life, they only ate curd rice (rice mixed with plain yogurt) and curries, which is ideal for the hot weather. But the same diet does not apply in the colder climates, as it can make you sick. In society, there are no steadfast rules. As per the time, rules and regulations to run this society are placed in a disciplined manner. But time passes away. The same circumstances are not available, nor the atmosphere. So old rules have to be given up, and new ones have to apply. If you go on holding on to old rules, then trouble starts. Just receive all that is amicable, useful, more comfortable for you and the society too. Then you can be happy.

EVERYTHING IS TUNED It’s said by a screenwriter Ārudra, “Life is like a radio set. Husband is the aerial; wife is the earth; so enjoy the life.” In its depth, both wife and husband should be cooperative, tune with each other, compromise with the flaws of each other, take equal responsibility of the family life, then the life can be happy. Some people say they find love at first sight. How can they even think about loving them for life? Such love is blind, because they entered into an alliance with each other. Prior to selecting a bride or bridegroom, think first. Up to the end of your life or their life, you vow to remain together. Nobody thinks they are 129

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getting married to break up later. Divorce is not synonymous for a happy life, so be alert and see if everything is tuned or not, then choose the partner. Every person has a smell, and all cannot tolerate that smell. Like that, one may have separate habits and thinking cultivated from his lineage or society where he lived. The woman may be brought up in a different atmosphere of society and lineage. Even those who are from the same neighborhood differ from family to family. Can you adjust in this situation? Ok, blindly you may have chosen your partner. Or per Indian tradition, elders choose for you. Also don’t have sex right away. First sit and discuss what you like and what you don’t, what you can tune into and what you cannot. It is like if you cannot get the work you love, love the work you get. Maybe she’s in your fate and you try to make it amicable without understanding each other. If you live in a marital lock, hell will be created at home. That’s why so many families quarrel with misunderstandings. What is the cause for it? Because each woman thinks her husband should think like her and behave like her. Since he is her husband, she expects him to listen to her and respect her. In the same way, the husband expects the same from his wife. Every husband eagerly waits for his wife to boost his energies, his deeds, and his greatness in front of so many other people. And he also wants to know if she loves him, or understands him, but only in front of a third person will it come out. So he’ll wait for her to talk. An intelligent wife will not only understand this, she also gives him a pat on his back 130

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in appreciation. When he loses something or fails, she boosts him and soothes him with her words. The husband also has to behave in the same way and not insult her in front of everyone, nor highlight her weakness in front of everyone. If he appreciates how happy he is that he found her in his life, then her morals will be boosted. Both can be tuned with society, and society will also appreciate that highly tuned pair. Everyone will think they should be living their life happily like this. Those male children who don’t have a father due to death or divorce will be attached to only the mother. Then attachment towards the opposite sex is created. When they grow and get married, attachment is too much. The husband won’t let his wife go out alone as he’s afraid to lose her. And he’ll try to jail her in darkness. He’ll be jealous when she talks to any other male. The wife has to understand his mental status. Like a mother, she has to soothe him and give him the confidence that she’s not going to leave. When he gets that same motherly confidence, he’ll be normal. Indian girls are mostly insecure. Parents decide their marriage link, and then she will get married to a new person with a new family. She feels totally insecure, because food habits, culture, behavior patterns, emotions, thoughts, everything is totally different from family to family. She feels like she came to an alien land. She feels all alone, and suffers from her attachment to her parents. So at that juncture, the husband has to take responsibility of a father. He must try to teach her in an amicable way and 131

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console her. If she finds the love that she used to receive from her biological father, she will feel secure. Even after taking so many precautions, some clashes may come between them. So how to remove all these hurdles and misunderstandings? They have to discuss these 5 points: 1. What is the position we are in now? 2. What is the problem and how has it started? 3. What are the damages we are going to face because of this? And if damages occur in our family, how can we get rid of it? 4. Is there only one way to solve it, or are there others? And what is the easier way? But be aware that choosing the easier may bring more problems. 5. Then, how do we adopt these ideas, how do we apply them, how do we make our family life comfortable and happy? Bertrand Russell says, “I may not agree with all the thoughts in your mind. But always express your right to express your feelings.” So even if you can’t tune in with your spouse, if you allow freedom of expressing feelings, you can be happy. Emotions and moods are so black and white so you have to discuss all this. With a calm mind, then you can be happy.

Please Weep “We cough to clear our throats, we sigh to clear our hearts,” says T.S. Mathews. 132

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When we are disturbed and our emotions are perturbing us, our body and mind produces some chemicals. All these chemicals are in the blood, so the anatomical functions will be affected. But sometimes the chemical production will be excessive. They can be harmful to the body. By weeping we can exhaust them and send them away. That’s why whenever we laugh or weep we’ll produce tears. All this is a healthy aspect, the shit, urine, sweat, sperm, and menstrual fluid. Even when we send tears out, we’ll be relaxed. Some men think that all this hydraulic energy belongs to women, not men. So many men are suppressed to weep in front of others, so in loneliness they also cannot weep. All this suppression can lead to heart attacks. Doctors advise men and women that they have to weep a lot. Not only the sorrow or tears, but everything that we suppress because of social conditions can lead to lust, passion, greed, or jealousy. Then the mutation will always come out in the form of disease. A young American man went to a great personality to talk about his problem. As he was under the influence of the Oedipal situation, he wanted to kill his own father. Day by day the craving increased, but his inner conscious told him that if he remains there, certainly he’ll kill him. Then this boy left America and went to India to a see a great man. The great man said, “Ok, kill your father. It solves the problem.” “Sir, what are you saying? How come I’m going to kill my own biological father?” he shockingly asked. 133

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“Don’t take it for granted. I was just joking; I’ll show you a practical way to come out of it. Take a pillow, pin one of your father’s photos on it, pinch him, kick him, take a stick and beat him.” The young man did this, and the next day he visited the great man and said to him, “Now I have hatred towards myself. How could I think to kill my biological father? What a sinful person I am! I’m regretting my deeds, and now I’m developing love and compassion daily towards my father. Now I want to go to him, prostrate at his feet and asked for his forgiveness.” The great man blessed him and sent him back to America. Maybe due to our social deeds, we suppress so many things in our mind. They only destroy our mental peace. So the only one way out of it is to remain in privacy, weep heartily, and laugh like small children. If you want to play, play. If you want to dance, dance. If you want to sing, sing. If you want to express lust, do it, but do not harm anyone else. Imagine you are having sexual intercourse with your dream girl or boy, and exhaust your suppressions. Love conquers in harmony.

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“Bliss is not to be found outside, against sorrow. Bliss has to be found deep, hidden behind the sorrow itself. You have to dig into your sorrowful states and you will find a wellspring of joy,” says Maitreya. You can never find happiness against the sorrow which is inside you. Your happiness is hidden in your own sorrow inside of you. How sorrowful you may be, but try to keep your mind calm, and try to go into the depth, the cause, of that sorrow. Behind every situation and personality, a cause will be there. We have to find it out. Without treating the cause, we can never have the proper result. Never look into the gross problem; it’s only the effect, not the cause. To analyze it exactly, go to the main target, then everything will be revealed to you. As it is, when you can find the cause, all of your lust, greed, passion, and sorrow goes away. In its place, love and compassion comes out. Meditation gives you alertness. With that, in a worldly life, you’ll have the patience to go into the cause and express his love to society. You will feel nobody is at fault, because you’ll know the cause of it. Once a woman took a meditation initiation from me and was staying at my monastery. Some other woman came to my monastery. They met and had some clashes and she called this meditator some bad words and abused her. Actually per her mental attitude, she’s supposed to boomerang at her, but she was meditating for so many days. She could not do it. She felt pain for the abuses of the other woman. I told the meditator that the other woman 135

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has an abdominal tumor, and that’s why she lost her mental balance. When she came to know the cause behind her behavior, she was relaxed. She was a 4045 year old woman, but she started playing like a small kid. Then she came to me and asked, “Am I becoming mad? Why am I in this playing mood at this age?” Then I explained, “When she abused you, you felt sorrow. Then I explained the cause for it. The moment you directed your vision to the cause, love and compassion started coming from within you. When you drove out your sorrow successfully, happiness and joy came in its place. That’s why you are happy and simple in the mind, like a child.” If you constantly meditate, you will lose your ego, stubbornness, arrogance, and rigidity. The actual cause will be visualized to you, and the spring of happiness will come out at the highest speed.

RUSSELL’S WAY “The secret of happiness is this. Let your interests be as wide as possible and let your reactions to the things and persons that interest you be as far as possible friendly rather than hostile,” says Maitreya. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970 England) wrote a book, “Conquest of Happiness.” In it he discussed the hindrances to attain happiness (negative approach), and how to remove them (positive approach). I wanted to make one point clear, that comfort and 136

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happiness are totally different. You may have all the comforts, but not the happiness. If you have the happiness, you have everything. “The tragedy of present day human life is: In the mindset of increasing comforts, man is finding a decrease in happiness.” The more comfortable you are, the greedier you become, and then you will lose the happiness. Here I start enumerating Russell’s list of points which he handled in his book, Conquest of Happiness. I’ve only taken titles from his book, and explained it in a way for all. A)

CAUSES FOR UNCOMFORTABILITY 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

Byronic Unhappiness Competition Boredom and Excitement Fatigue Envy Sense of Sin (Guilt) Persecution Mania Fear of Public Opinion

1. Byronic Unhappiness Ram came home from his office, washed his face, and sat on the sofa comfortably. His wife brought him some tea and sat next to him. He started telling her about his day at the office.

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She abruptly said, “Oh just wait, I kept the milk on the flame. It might boil over.” When she came back from the kitchen, he lost his interest to share his feelings with her. Later on Ram was waiting in the bedroom, and his wife came to him after she finished her household duties. She came to him late, and he wanted to have a good time with her. The moment he started embracing her, she started enumerating her list of problems: the kids are naughty, they don’t study nor listen to her, the milk man is diluting the milk with water to make more money, and the maid usually comes late, or doesn’t come at all. Those women who are not secure of their place in life want to show others their specialty. They never want to listen to anyone else. They don’t have any interest in anything. They can’t express their feelings properly. They cannot share their thoughts and feelings of others with love. When we look at that family from outside, we won’t find any problem with them. What they lack is happiness. Everyday boredom and irritation increases. This man may try to find some other woman with whom he could share his feelings. Even if he finds such a woman outside, he can never be happy because of the sense of guilt and social problems. At home, he’ll have family problems. We’ll discuss these later. If he goes out, he can’t be happy because all of his friends and family are now his enemies. They will say, “What is wrong with him? He has a beautiful, amicable, and adjustable wife. Why should he go to someone else?” He will not have peace at home or office, will get insulted by society, 138

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and his life becomes more miserable. Then his life will be suffocating. “When our feelings are alive, we are very much alive,” says Swami Vivekananda. It means when you have no freedom to feel and express it, it appears we are alive, but we are dead. I am 50 years old now, I was born sick, and the sickness went on my entire life. I was very weak in my mind and my body. As I was born Hindu, as a child I used to grow my hair long and put a spot, a bindi, on my forehead. I have three elder brothers, and my third brother was very intelligent. He became an atheist and started searching for a cause for everything. He used to hate seeing me with the bindi and the long hair. He used to threaten to cut my hair off when I was asleep. I was not intelligent enough to compete with him and discuss with him. One day I was asleep and he really did cut my hair off. It gave me a lot of pain and agony in my heart. He used to think that he’s elder to me so that’s why I had to listen to him. As he was just two years elder to me, I was not ready to accept his supervision. Normally, from 11-19 years, children will have a lot of mental disturbances. For the males, it may continue up to 25 years. All the young and teenage boys want to grow their hair very long. Why? When you trim it properly, it means you have accepted the society, its norms, conditions, and traditions. Every child is born as a rebel, that’s why they want to go against it. They want to prove themselves as special people. Maybe they don’t know about all these social norms 139

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and conditions. When you ask them, they say they merely like to grow their hair long, as it looks good. And to those people who are against it, when you ask them why they are negating it, they too don’t have any answer. This psychological phenomenon went on in my family like anything. Since I am the youngest, I always used to keep myself in a separate position to rebel against the elders. Whereas my third brother’s position is different since he has a younger brother and elder ones. He was sandwiched in between the two, so that’s why he was not clear about himself. When my brother went to a job interview in a bank, they asked him, “What is your caste?” Then he asked them, “What connection do you have about my caste for this job? Does this job have any particular reservations for this caste?” My brother wanted to supervise me and control me but rebelled as well when it came from the outside. He wanted me to cut my hair, but couldn’t tell me why. Sometimes he was the young one that could rebel against the elders and control the youngsters. And I was the only younger one. This is Byronic Unhappiness, that he has the fixation to control me which gives sorrow to one and uncomfortability to others. That’s how he disturbs himself and the family too. I met a woman called Rādha, about 32 years old. She started enumerating her childhood experiences to me. At four or five years old, she used to like puppies, piglets, chicks, and kittens. She always 140

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wanted to embrace them, kiss them, and play with them. She never used to eat meat, even though she was forced. She said, “They are my friends, and you are slaughtering them and feeding them to me.” Rādha used to have a white hen that weighed about five kilograms. She used to try to carry her, walk with her, dance with her, and was barely able to carry it. One day the family members wanted to slaughter her and feed her to the family. Rādha felt very bad about it, as if she was losing a friend. She was weeping, and for three days she couldn’t touch any food. This is Byronic Unhappiness. You may have it at any age with family members, colleagues, friends and relatives. We have to discuss our situations with them and clear it off. 2. Competition “Do not be afraid of opposition, remember, a kite rises against, not with the wind,” says Mabie. We are not alone in this world, and all alone we cannot enter the forest and live. We have to live in the society. When we live in the society, competition is unavoidable. When you accept competition as a natural social phenomenon, understand it thoroughly and try to live in this competition, it is good. If you are not ready for this, then problem comes. But I ask you a question, does competition really exist in this world or is it a creation of the mind? Yes, gross competition does exist. If you are employed, you’ll have competition with colleagues. If two men love one woman, there is competition. It is possible in 141

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children in school with their classmates. Like that, it naturally exists everywhere. Competition does not give you sorrow. In Sanskrit we have a saying, sparthaya vardhate vidya, which means that only in competition can you attain the knowledge. When a player accepts his defeat as a good sportsman, then it can never give sorrow to him. When he accepts the competition in a negative way, then the defeat becomes hell to him. One day a boy was weeping, and his father asked him what the cause was. “In our class,” he said, “we are 40 students. In this year, during final examinations, I got the 20th place. And there are 19 boys prior to me. That’s why I’m weeping” Then his father said, “One of our neighbor’s sons is also in your class, and he’s going around distributing sweets to everyone. Let’s inquire and see what his position is.” “In what position have you passed my boy?” father asked. “I’m at 21st stage. I’m one behind your son,” the neighbor’s son said. “But my son sees that 19 people are prior to him,” father said.” When I look around the class I see there are 19 boys behind me. That’s why I’m happily distributing sweets,” the neighbor’s son said. 142

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One who wants development, he should never look forward. So many people say they are supposed to look forward. Constantly they are supposed to work, sweat and toil, but not regret those things which he could never attain. And they are not supposed to feel jealous about it. To be happy, look back and see that so many people do not have what you have. If you can look into it, you can be happy. This creation is peculiar. Even forward and backward also changes. Who is in front of you? Who is in back of you? There once was a theater filled with so many people. They watched the performance, then the owner of the theater came in front of the audience and said, “Please sir, let me be my guest for today. I had a dream as a child, and I wanted to share it with my invited and uninvited guests. I wanted to show you a beautiful classical drama. The theater is the same, people are the same, and nothing has changed. But those who purchased the tickets for the lesser cost were sitting in the front, and the costlier tickets are in the rear and balcony. In reality, VIP guests can only sit in the first rows in front of the stage. So those who purchased the costliest tickets have become the cheapest audience”. So, have proper thinking. Situations, atmosphere, social circumstances, and facing the competition; It’s all very difficult unless you analyze it properly. You can never come out of this jumble. Competition can happen even in families.

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As an Indian, as a Hindu, I’ve seen a lot in this suppressed society. Even a mother wants to compete with her daughter. A grown-up girl, if she wants to embrace her father, kiss him or sit on his lap, the Indian mother gets angry. She says to her daughter “Do you think you are still a small child to hang all over your father? Go and study.” Every girl knows her father as the first man in her life. It is natural that she’ll have love for him, as she’s the opposite sex. In the same way, a boy knows the first woman in his life is mother. And it is natural that he will have a lot of love for her. When you cannot understand all this because of your suppressions, you’ll even feel that your children compete with you. Accept the social competition as natural when you strive and struggle. By not thinking about the competition, not actually competing, but winning the life, you can be happy. 3. Boredom and Excitement “If loneliness is a truth, then there is no point in running away from it. It is better to go into it. Encounter it. See it face to face, what it is,” says Osho. In this modern time, one, big mental disease exists for this humankind. They want to complete all work urgently, in excitement. So what happens when this thinking continues? He can never enjoy his work, and with all the free time left for him, he doesn’t know what to do and he feels bored. To get rid of this

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boredom he’ll try to involve himself with unnecessary things. Russell says, in this modern age, that we have so many vocations, that one can deeply and madly involve themselves in. Vocations are there; that’s why boredom can never happen. But as for my experience, the so-called human being tries to forget his problems and sorrow by turning on the television, satellite dish, DVD player, etc. But with all these, boredom increases. For instance, action movies will create some excitement in you. It also creates nonviolence in your mind as it also suppresses any violent desires you may have. And your suppressed sexual desires come out, as you’ll be temporarily satisfied. As you imagine yourself to be the hero, for two hours, you may feel like you enjoyed it. Then you’ll be sent into the boredom or excitement again. To come out of this boredom and excitement, humans started going to forests as poachers, and going to the battlefields as a soldier. It is gross entertainment for them. In this way, they can dominate the society and say that they are superior to you. This is the only way to satisfy the ego. Now the forests are almost extinct due to the cruel human beings. They don’t have a choice anymore to hunt animals, so they hunted the human beings. So war became gross entertainment for the human beings. If you won’t look into the depth of this and control it, it will certainly lead to the Third World War. To get rid of boredom, people go to the spiritual path or political path, or they may become social workers, or terrorists. It’s all very chaotic. They may read all the scriptures, argue with other people, study the law of 145

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the particular country, or become a lawyer. Or without studying, they will argue everywhere. It’s all because of their boredom. In Greece, during the time of Socrates, this boredom became chaotic logic. They started arguing, is the horse itself true? Or is the thought of the horse true? In India, on Vinayaka Chaviti for 9 days, Ayyappa initiation for 40 days, God Almighty’s initiation for 40 days, or Hanuman’s initiation for 40 days, they take up different spiritual practices to clear mental diseases. But in this form, in the height of it, so many things can happen. So many Indians go to the town of Ayyappa at the edge of the ocean in the southern state of Kerala. After completing this initiation, they immediately jump on those sensual pleasures which they suppressed for 40 days, and HIV prevails in Kerala because of this. To get rid of this boredom, a politician may organize a meeting, and so-called terrorists also change this society. They also try their level best to bring up this society in a disciplined way. But this causes sound pollution, mental pollution, physical pollution and disturbance in the society. Unless we show a way to the human being to come out of this boredom, they will always go after emotions and excitements. If this emotional excitement affects the human being, then he’ll create more chaotic problems in this universe. What are those problems which creates boredom and excitement to the human being? What will be the bad effects of it? And what will be the family problems? Once I gave a lecture, then after some time, some audience wrote letters to me. They went like this, 146

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“When our beloved friend goes away, we feel that our home and our mind are empty. It is natural. When we respect, love, and adore you, and when you are far away from us, it feels like a portion of our heart has been pulled out of us. We feel alone, that we’re going away from you, and you have never given us back that love. We know that the feeling is only temporary. Maybe it is the way of the world, maybe we are deprived from our beloved.” This is a psychological problem. I always interact with the people, and they ask me why I won’t be physically available to them. I’m 50 years old, and I cannot travel to everywhere. It is a populated country of more than one billion people, where will I go? They feel bored when I leave them because they had a nice time with me, interacting with me, getting the teachings, and exchanging ideas. They were happy, but now they feel the boredom. So what is the solution for it? “To have a place in someone’s heart is to be never alone,” says Alejandro Perez. The boredom is a peculiar problem, and we can never find a cause for it. Why are we bored? We can’t answer it. We can solve a problem that has a cause, but boredom has no cause. And the problem which does not have a cause cannot be cured. It’s not easy. Let us go to the psychology. When we are bored, how will it get transferred into our family problems? Psychology says it is a “7 year itch” for males, and the “after 40 syndrome” for women. The married man can be sincere up to 7 years, and then he’ll be 147

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bored with his family. Why does it happen? If somebody says there is some secret, then certainly everyone will want to plunder it. But once it’s revealed and no more a secret, he loses interest. He plundered one virgin’s youth, produced children, and lost the interest in her because he discovered the secret of womanhood. Woman’s beauty, her shapely body, her feelings, and her habits, everything he came to know now. They have become old, so he became bored. But a woman’s mind is not that chaotic. Up to 40 years of age, she can remain with a man as she’s nearing her menopause. Maybe, as per the Indian culture, she got married at a young age of 20-23 years. She looked after all financial problems, combined family problems, and social problems for at least 15-20 years. All these problems and children made her life busy so she never experienced any happiness or ecstasy in her life. When she looks back at the age of 40 or 42, she’ll think, “Why did I waste this life? I’m ending my life, so to get rid of the boredom and mental torture, I may go to another man”. Now, she may choose a man younger to her. If she won’t go to this younger man, she’ll continue to be suppressed. If she goes to this man, she’ll get the social problems. See how much trouble the boredom gives? To get rid of it is excitement, but is this the way out? You have created boredom because you are unable to face yourself. In life, there are so many people around you who talk and talk. They go on pestering you. You can avoid them and walk away from them, but the bored one 148

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cannot because of the social and family circumstances. You’ll face the same situation when you’re all alone. What is the cause? There are bored people who talk a lot whom you can tolerate, then why can’t you tolerate yourself. It means that you have the personality of boredom. You cannot face yourself. When somebody is bored, he’ll search for friends. Or he’ll want to enter into some mental entertainment factors. Or they may drink alcohol to forget about all this boredom. Only to get out of this boredom, people get married, but they can never have the peace. If you are a scholar, know so many scriptures and can talk fluently and soothingly, people will be ready to listen to you. Attain that position, and if you are bored all alone, try to read some scriptures, think through your own angle, write them down, and if it is necessary, refer to the old ancient scriptures. Gather the information and try to produce a book. That will make you come out of your boredom. As we talked about in other essays, because of scientific development, calculators and computers came, and we received more leisure time. This also gave us more time to get bored. If you like the work which you are doing, decorate it and massage it, then you can get the satisfaction. If you can make use of your time, then where is the time for you to get bored? In the Himalayan peaks where so many saints roamed for thousands of years, they didn’t get bored. Why? Because they crossed beyond their mind and obtained a peaceful state in the meditation. They are complete. They don’t have to depend on anything or anyone outside themselves. 149

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They know they are all-pervasive and that they are in every person, bird and animal. They came to know that they are no different from nature. That’s why for thousands of years in those small caves, still they won’t get bored. Please meditate. Television or internet, snookers or pokers, is not the way. You will never get the absolute happiness. Be a witness. Observe the nature and the society, and change yourself. Then neither boredom nor excitement can give you trouble. It’s only the way to get rid of excitement or boredom. 4. Fatigue “Physical labor carried beyond a certain point is atrocious torture,” says Maitreya. When we want to do some work, we’ll be moving our muscles but sometimes we won’t get the proper oxygen to do it. Glycogen is there in our muscles and gives us energy. But lactic acid in the digestive system comes in the middle and with that we’ll be losing our activation. This is called as fatigue. Because of this, so many extra unwanted morbid materials will be created in our body, called fatigue toxins. Through the blood, they spread into our entire body and mind. Because of that, the mind will be in total lethargy even though you may not work hard physically. This fatigue is not only a chemical reaction, it is a defense mechanism. When you are fatigued, you have to give rest to your body and mind. When you are fatigued, glycogen decreases, so you must take some form of glucose. This is natural that when you work hard, you will feel the fatigue. 150

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For that, take rest, have a nice bath, and consume wonderful food. Then sleep again after some hours of work. In India, child labor still goes on. When they are 13 or 14 years old and involved in tedious gross work, they will collapse. They will appear as 50 years of age at 30 years of age. Many people work in the city, but they cannot afford the cost of living of the city. They commute from their village for six hours, work for eight hours, and again commute for six hours to their home. This gives them mental stress, bodily fatigue, sound pollution, and environmental pollution. All this affects them as the mental fatigue is too much. Everyone will have problems, but if you go on brooding about it, you’ll never sleep at night. Then if you don’t have sleep, you won’t be able to wake up. And if you wake up, you’ll be half asleep. Even though you had rest, you’ll still have fatigue. When you think about your problems the entire night, and you don’t have the proper sleep, how can you go to your work? Because it is a routine for you, you have to take rest. Talk about your problems the next morning. This is a society of speed. There are so many problems, but one who recognizes it receives a lot of rest to his mind and body. And when he jumps to work, he’ll be working like a Superman. 5. Envy What I don’t have, others have. If I feel pain about it, this is envy. This envy, when it enters into one’s heart, makes one rigid. Envious people think that if they don’t have it, why should others have it? That’s 151

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how it all starts. But on humanitarian grounds, you can think, at least they have it. Because someone has to have it. It won’t be attained easily. When you cannot fulfill your vengeance and envy, you become stubborn and you will have hatred towards those people. This is called dwesha in Sanskrit. Dwesha came from dwi and visha. That means it is a poison for both people, the one who has envy and the one who is facing it. They want to kill them, and they think how to kill them. With all this thinking, they won’t get sleep. And for the other one who is targeted, they too won’t sleep as they are under attack. So that envy becomes poison to themselves and to their enemies. How can you attain happiness in those situations? We came in this world as individuals. It is our life. It does not depend upon anyone else. Comparing yourself with others is foolishness. Those people who admire great people for their heightened aspects, they think that one day they’ll attain it. It is ok, no problem. But you came on this planet as an individual, and you don’t have to compare with anyone else. If you want to grow, you can grow as an individual. My Gurudev Nikhileshwara has billions of disciples on the entire earth, but he resides with me. Why? I have no envy. I have no ego. I never compare with anybody. I don’t want to become a great man, nor a Guru to rule over the spiritual world. What I want is the absolute realty, which is true, which is totally filled with happiness. All the people will compare themselves to those more developed than them. And they work hard to reach his level. But that is not the way. In this mad world, it goes on and on. You don’t 152

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have to do it. You don’t have to compare with anybody. If at all somebody has something which you don’t have, you should be happy. At least they attained it. But you are not supposed to feel jealousy or envy about them. There was a person who used to collect all the crabs which exist on this entire earth, and had an exhibition. Those people who came to this exhibition of the crabs told the crab collector, “Maybe you forgot to put a lid on top of this glass box. The crabs may get out.” The crab collector said, “I never forgot to put a lid on it. I know their way. These types of crabs never run away. If any crab wants to escape and climb up one foot or half foot, then immediately another crab will pull its leg down. These are Indian crabs. I’m least bothered of putting a lid on them.” “Half of being smart is knowing what you’re dumb at.” If you know in which field you are ignorant, that is half the knowledge. If it is complete knowledge, you will apply it on your life. It is not information. If you know something but you are not able to follow it, it means you have not understood it. Everyone wants to have happiness. Till now I haven’t faced a person who does not want happiness. Then what is hindering it? It is envy and jealousy. When it is extended to the maximum it becomes cyanide, which kills any human being within a few seconds. Imagine the morsel of food you are going to put into your mouth. Somebody comes up to you and says some poison is mixed in it. Will you eat it or give it up? If you don’t believe them, then to you it is only information 153

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presented to you. And when you cannot apply it onto your life, it becomes poison. The moment he said it, you should have the faith to give up the food which is poisoned. Who can explain all this? Only a Guru can explain, one who is all-pervasive and all-knower. And a guru can be any guide in your life, like a friend, family member, or teacher. A Guru is one who gives more than information, much more. 6. The Sense of Sin 7. Persecution Mania . 8. Fear of Public Opinion. “You are what you are when nobody is looking,” says A. Laders. Guilt belongs to the past. Fear of what people may say belongs to the future as opinion. Russell says if you have any aspect of these, you can never be happy. Dr. Sigmund Freud divided the mental moods into three different categories, Id, Ego, and Superego. He said everyone will have an instinctive drive that is known as libido. The suppression of the society and social conditions of what to do and what not to do will be a hindrance for the progress to have a happy life. If he involves himself in the sensual pleasures, it becomes perversion. If he suppresses that, it becomes hell and creates diseases. When Id becomes strong and your personality is weak, then you will say, “I want it”. It will be propelling you to fulfill that desire immediately. When it is exposed in the society, Id will be insulted by everyone. Id wants all those things which are negated by the society. A person is sandwiched between his Id and his Ego. 154

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A snake caught a frog in its mouth. If I ask it to give up the frog, he becomes angry. If I won’t, the frog becomes angry because he’s not being supported by me, and now he’s dying. So he becomes angry. Id propels a person. Id boosts his Ego, and keeps silent. But constantly it will be repeating in your mind, which is against the society and culture. Society is not going to accept it. That’s why Ego says I cannot do it, but Id says, you are born as an individual. Why do you care for the society? Give up all your selfishness, Ego, and jump into what you want. Still if the Id is not going to stop this disturbance in your mind, when you ask back, Id says, “Ok, you can follow the society rules, with some conditions.” Even then Ego is not ready to accept it. When a person is ready to do some work, Id supports and pushes them. Then Ego certainly will do that nonsense which is not accepted by the society. If they get a chance anytime, they will go into the wrong path, because no one is observing them. Very few people whom we can count on our fingers will never do wrong, even if they get a chance. This becomes suppression in them. Either they get some psychological disease or become mad too. And those who did something wrong, they will feel guilt in side them. Or, they may repeat the same mistakes again and again. They can become terrorists or devils’ incarnations. Finally they will be. Some day they get caught, prosecuted and imprisoned. Jailbirds in India will neither have any law nor protection. There is no chance for rehabilitation. So bringing some change in their minds becomes impossible. Very few people can 155

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take the help of Id. They can use the energy from the society, and it can be called as sublimation. Those research scholars and those artists belong in this category. When you do some mistake and feel guilty, the third part of your personality comes out, the Superego. In Sanskrit this is the antarātma, the inner deep soul; it will be scolding Ego again and again. Somehow it wants to overpower Id. By constantly scolding, Superego creates a sense of guilt in Ego. Dr. Freud, the father of psychology, and his disciples Carl Gustav Jung and Alfred Adler, all of them said that this unconscious or Id is natural. No, I totally go against them. This is the creation of the stupid human being. Nature has some eternal values. And no one is going to be hurt or pained by this. But there are some social ephemeral values. Because of them, a person will always be in struggle. Once when I was in school we went on an excursion to a place with beautiful landscape and a riverbank. At 11 o’clock, three buses full of 165 children and 15 elders started. When we reached, it was 4pm. As children do, we immediately jumped into the play and enjoyed like anything. For all of us, food had to be prepared. The chef took his time, and by 7pm, food was ready. We were all tired as we had no lunch. Everyone just jumped up on the food and ate like anything. One of our classmates showed no interest in food. He sat by himself. He belonged to the Jain cult. In their cult, after sunset they won’t take any food. That’s why he was suppressing himself. Potatoes and onions were used, and they won’t touch those things. Jain tradition says that due to the darkness of being grown underground, those 156

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vegetables are not suitable for spiritual people because they don’t see the sunlight. So they consider the food as unholy. We tried to explain to him so many things, “We had only breakfast. If you don’t eat now, the fatigue of playing and travel and still if you keep your belly empty, you won’t be able to sleep. So don’t worry, we won’t tell your parents.” He ate three morsels of rice but immediately vomited it out. We slept like logs in the night, but he remained awake. When we forced him, he was cursing us in his mind, since we forced him to eat. And the sense of guilt going over his religious rules was also haunting him the entire night. He could not sleep. If any other religious person reads this, they may think, what fanatics these Jains are. But if any Jain reads this, they say, “Yes, he’s punished for this sin. Being a Jain child, eating after sunset, and all unholy items! His sin itself became a snake and bit him.” Maybe a hundred Muslims will be eating cow meat together, and if one Hindu goes there, he’ll certainly vomit. 100 Chinese people maybe eating cat meat and all other religious people will be running away from that place. For the Chinese, nothing is unholy, everything is holy. They eat cows, pigs, cats, dogs, fish, rats, lizards, turtles, insects, everything. The Jain child doesn’t know what a sin was (and of course no one can explain this). If he felt that it was a sin, then he will have the fear of public opinion. He didn’t have the sense of sin too, he has persecution mania. When we made him eat and promised that we are not going to reveal it to his parents, gave his Id the strength. And we made his Ego to work. But after 157

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eating it at night, his Ego started creating the sense of sin. And early morning, when he stopped worrying about the food, he got some sleep. But he kept on pleading us not to report this to his parents. In some Asian countries, there is a tradition of getting married to blood relatives. They marry their mother’s brother’s daughter, their cousin, and they never feel any guilt of it. Because it’s been practiced for thousands of years, they won’t be pointed out by relatives or society. In Muslims, it’s totally different; they can get married to their mother’s sister’s daughter. But they can’t marry their mother’s brother’s daughter. They consider her as a sister. In north India, they consider both as a sister. In Haryana and Punjab, two northern states in India, if their elder brother dies in the family, the younger brothers will keep the sister-in-law in sexual relation with them, and they’ll take care of the brother’s children too. When I was there in Haryana, I asked about this, “You say that your sister-in-law is equal to mother, so how can you have sexual relations with her?” They said, “If she’s young and no one is there to look after her, she has to choose the path of prostitution. Is that not an insult to their family? So we take of her and the children, and consider her as a family member.” And they don’t want to insult her traditional family life by sending her out. I also worked in Himachal Pradesh, another state in northern India where all brothers get married to one woman. When I inquired about it, they said, “Look at our place, Himachal Pradesh is in the hills of the 158

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Himalayas. We don’t have the plains to plow. Only in some hills are we able to cut it, and cultivate it. The little piece of land can’t feed everyone sufficiently if we all get married separately. One woman can only produce a few children with one man, and it’s the same if they go with so many men. But one man can produce many children with many women. That’s why they’re only one family. The output of land is sufficient for the one family. In Egyptian culture, the kings used to marry sisters and brothers because they didn’t want to pollute the royal blood. In India, still today nobody dares to marry a widow. The widows used to shave their hair after death, and wear only white saree. They are considered as inauspicious faces, and it’s considered a bad omen just to look at their face. Like that, every society has their own fixations, their own way of living. This is called as ephemeral values. These values will be continuously changing years together in their society. A human, when he thought that he couldn’t live all alone, created society, and society created hell for him. So because of the society and social aspects, he’ll be sandwiched between Ego and Superego. Id is psychological torture for him. For one in this uncomfortable position, how do you expect him to have happiness? Bertrand Russell wrote another book, “Why I’m Not a Christian.” He gave so many causes. He asked, “How much longevity will I have? Maybe hardly 100 years, not more than that. (Russell lived 97 years.) In 100 years, how many nights will I be sleeping? 50 years 159

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awake, 50 years sleep. Maybe 60-70 years awake if I sleep less. How much time does it take to clean my body, my home, and clothes? In between working and writing books, how much time is left for me to commit a sin? Even if I commit sin and a legal department wanted to punish me, I will be jailed a maximum of 12-20 years, depending on the age of incarceration. Why should I wait for the last judgment in the burial ground till all the people die? Then God Almighty will judge me, and after I wait for the last judgment, only then will I be sent permanently to hell or heaven. So that is why I don’t want to be a Christian.” Mark Twain, a famous writer of the past, wrote a novel, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” It is a story of black people enslaved in America, when the white people never considered the black people as humans. Huck Finn, a white boy, ran away from his home. He met a black man, Jim, who was also running away from his owner, Watson. As per the teachings in the church and home, he’s supposed to hand over the black slave to his rightful owner. Blacks were considered to be property of whites. He knew he was running away from his owner. Either he had to stop him, or report it to Watson. Both he couldn’t do. Huck Finn helped him to run away because he also was running away. The judgment of the church was so horrible at that time, that if you helped any black man run away, you’ll directly go to hell. Though Huck Finn helped him run away, his Superego taunted him constantly saying, “You snatched that old poor woman’s property, that black man. Are you not shameful, being a white man 160

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helping a black man?” The Superego continued, “You fool, Huck Finn. It may not be today, but tomorrow, all the people will know you helped a black man escape and then can you freely roam in your home of St. Petersburg? Even after committing this sin, you may hide yourself, but do you think sin cannot find you? Certainly it will.” Huck Finn goes against his Superego and finally says, “Ok, I will hand over this slave to his rightful owner. Then, can you forgive yourself? No, you will never. Then what is the use? If the mistake happens, let it happen. So I’m not going to hand him to his owner.” So, from the unknown time of past to the unknown time of future, these ephemeral values will change from society to society and time to time. In this mental torture of the society, can anybody be happy? So I suggest you to give up the sense of sin, persecution mania and fear of public opinion. Immediately people ask me, “So you mean to say we should become terrorists and go against society. We have to go under the supervision of Id and behave like barbarians?” As far as possible, try to follow society’s rules and regulations. Unless you get the strength to go against the steadfast rules of society, dare not to go against them. Again, we have the great man named Ram Mohan Roy. At his time, Kanyasulka was going on in India; it means that old, rich people used to purchase young, teenage girls by paying their parents plenty of money. They got married to the girls and in 5-10 years the old man would die. At a young age, they became widows. This gentleman, Ram Mohan Roy, 161

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fought the social norms and brought the change. If at all you have the strength and energy to command the entire society, then go against it. But do not suffer from persecution mania. Even if you have committed something which is considered by society as a sin, at least don’t be guilty for it. In India, there is a language, Urdu, which is a combination of Hindi and the Arabic language that originated from the Pakistanis who settled in India. A verse in Urdu says, “I never think of nor brood over my broken ship. Why should I?” I always sing the song of the future. I’m not the one weeping for my past sins. It means not to have fear of your own or the public’s opinion. Everyone has their own headache, and they won’t hang on to your problems forever. They have their own problems. They don’t have time to brood over your problems. In the name of society, so many sinners are there. So, other people do not have time to curse you. There are plenty of people like you. Just cross over the past, present, and future. Be happy.

B. Way to the Happiness Till now we were discussing about Russell’s Way, the causes for the uncomfortability. Now Russell is giving a positive way, that which makes you feel happy.

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1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 1. 2. 3.

Zest Affection Family Work Impersonal Interests Effort And Resignation

ZEST AFFECTION FAMILY

“When the shoe fits, the foot is forgotten. When the tie fits, the neck is forgotten. When the belt fits, the belly is forgotten. When the heart fits, for and against are forgotten,” says Tao. Yes, man and woman, if they can tune themselves, they’ll see heaven on earth. But if it’s not a suitable alliance, it will be a smaller size of the shoe which literally eats your feet. If it is a bigger one, you’ll lose it. When the belt is fit, you’ll certainly forget your belly, when tie is fit, certainly you’ll forget your neck. So man and woman’s tuning should be like this. One day a girl proposed Emmanual Kant, a logician and also philosopher, for marriage. He said, “Let me think and decide.” After three years, he took a notebook in his hand and went to her house, knocked on the door, and her father opened the door. He welcomed him in and offered him some coffee or tea. Kant opened his

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notebook and enumerated all the problems and benefits when people get married. The old man listened to him patiently, and finally he asked, “It’s ok, why are you telling me all this? In this old age, I’m not going to get married again.” “It’s for me,” said Kant, your daughter proposed me. I took three years and finally came to a conclusion. Whether I get married or not, suffering is same. Suffering is unavoidable, so let me get married and suffer. The old man said, “Ok, good thing you told me, but my dear son, I know you are a great man. I love you and your character. Certainly I would have offered my daughter to you in wedlock, I wouldn’t have refused. But my daughter waited one year and she got married. Her husband will not let you get married to her, and she has two children now.” As for this marital alliance, and about those two partners, there are so many jokes. Maximum number of books has come on this subject than on any other subject. I will tell you from my personal experience, I know so many people who are married and happy and so many who are married and unhappy too. In the same way, I know some unmarried people who are very happy and some unmarried who are suffering too. After marriage, will you be happy or sorrow? For this question, there is no answer. Some people depend on the river for their livelihood. There are so many 164

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people who drowned and committed suicide in the river too. If you want to depend on the river and make your life happy, you should know the art of living it. If you know this art, you can be happy. If you don’t know this, even if you are a parent, still you will suffer. In the family setup, there is happiness. All the family members should feel the zest. Zest is there in everyone. But they should know how to produce it for the society. This zest in your heart becomes surrender, in your mind it is patience, on your face it will be a smile and then only will it be said as zest. When you project this zest onto the people, then it will be called as love. When it is complete, then your entire family setup will be strong. Why am I telling this? Till now, in this Indian society, the children are being tortured. How much negativity went on against this one group has never gone on with any other. That’s what the psychologists say. Newly born puppies and kittens, if you throw them in the water, they will immediately swim. For the newly born human, it takes 20-25 years, and then only can he stand on his legs. Truly speaking, when an infant is born, we never consider him as an individual. We always consider him as our successor. He’s younger to us, and he listens to us because he depends on us now. So we can exploit him. He may suffer a lot, but he cannot live because he knows no other source. Compared to him, we become elders, great people. Everyone wants to become big. That’s why a useless guy can also get married, produce children. Then he says he’s 165

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greater than his child and tries to control him. In the natural world, when we want to become great people, we have to struggle hard. It is easy to produce a child by ejaculating so they can dominate a child, because they don’t know their rights. In America, it is against the law to beat the children. In India, the law also exists, but nobody listens to their elders, much less will they listen to their children if they complained to the law. And children are not educated for their basic rights, so they don’t know they can go to an authority figure and complain about their parents. When the aspect exists in one’s heart, and it is sent towards the younger generation, it is called vatsalya in Sanskrit. The pregnant meaning of vatsalya is when a cow gives birth to a calf, she will be covered in shit and so many chemicals. The substance will be gummy, but the mother cow licks and eats it. She has no hands to clean it, like the humans, who use boiled water. Vatsa means cow’s baby. This is the mother’s love, disregarding any idea that this substance around her calf is impure or dirty. She takes into her own tongue the leftover material that the calf doesn’t need, and swallows it into her belly. I once saw a human child with mucous pouring out of her nose, and instead of her mother using a napkin or her finger to remove it, she sucked it out herself and swallowed it. This is motherhood. This is love. Till now, the atrocities towards children have been too much. In this creation, animals grow very easily and fast, as longevity is limited. The animals have to get control of their senses and use them quickly, 166

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because their longevity is 12-14 years. But the human breed has 20-25 years once it reaches adulthood, then only can he be grown physically and mentally. Really speaking we never have the love towards the child. A father feels that this child is born because of his karmic pattern, but he doesn’t realize that the child is born because of their own karmic pattern. In a way, the human being will never have the total love towards their babies. Why? Because he is smaller than him and can ordain him. He can make him do whatever he wants him to. A newborn mind is not grown, so you can make him a slave. Is that the humanity you have? If a father cannot treat a child in a proper way, then later in life he rebels against him. Everyone wants to become the elder, the great one, the dominator, and the guide. But these fools don’t know that they also have to grow. In the physical world, they want to become great. For that they have to struggle a lot. So many have to be co-operative with him. Instead, so many compete against him. But if a child is born to him, he can dominate him. With all the problems in society, we can become elders to the children. That’s why, whether or not they want to, the father always advises his son. Every second, he wants to become the father, Guru, or advisor. Nobody thinks whether they are experienced enough and educated enough to give advice. Everyone has their own suppressions and their weaknesses from their past lives. A so-called person who thinks he’s above everything immediately tries to advise him. He has his own problems, but he always wants to advise someone 167

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else. He has his own problems and sorrows, and he wants to control the entire world. And then he says that it is natural. He says that everything is impermanent. He says things like, “Your house may be burnt, but still you have your own shop. Don’t worry. You’ll get back all that you lost.” It is true that God Almighty gave us two hands, two legs, one mind to analyze, and five senses to recognize. What they see is right. It is very easy for them to give advice, but they still cannot receive it nor understand them. Just as all parents want to advise their children, these Indians always want to become Gurus. They never think if they have the right to give advice or the discipline to follow the path. He’s not responsible enough. He only has the desire to become a teacher. With that desire, he wants to control everyone. If somebody’s weak and available to him, he’ll teach all nonsense and keep them under their control. When the disciples have trouble, he’ll teach that it’s all ephemeral. But truth is always permanent. It’s compassionate. With the impression of this consciousness, you’ll have all the energies of the love. Accept it. Be pure. Never have any competition, jealousy, or ego, then you can be happy. These socalled teachers, when they give advice and solutions, they do give results to the disciples. But what about the one who gave the advice, is he grown? Does he have any results? No, only his ego is satisfied. Truly speaking, we won’t have the compassion and love for the next generation. Meanwhile, they will have their own sensual pleasures. When we show the love and affection towards the children, we’ll get 168

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happiness. What is the cause? It’s a peculiar point. All those are babies, and they record it in their mind. And even if we beat them, and scold them, they will not be ready to accept it. Compared to them, we do become elders, and everyone wants to become an elder. Sorry, I don’t want to become an elder. These so-called elders will say that to really achieve something you have to work hard in the spiritual path. It really means, in the name of spirituality, they want to earn money. I, as Maitreya, gathered so many children but I’ve never ordained them to follow the fanatic spiritual paths. When you become Guru, whether you have the capacity or not, you can give advice to somebody. Fakers, in the name of discipline and responsibility, wear the ochre robes and try to control everyone. But I ask, by wearing ochre robes and running away to holy places like Rishikesh or Varanasi, are they escapists running away from family responsibilities? When I wore the ochre robes, someone approached me to take them with me. “Why?” I asked. He said, “I have lots of debts to different people and I owe lots of money. I want to escape.” I said, “Better we don’t go to my place or yours, because I also owe some money to some people.” He said, “Better I don’t go with you at all.” They speak a lot about morals and discipline. When a man goes through it, they wait for a chance to lecture someone else. And if a child is born in his family, he’ll be happy, because all the dirty, useless lectures 169

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which he heard can be rubbed on them. That child can’t resist it. That’s why so many children hate their parents. One man approached me with a sad face. I asked him what the problem was. He was making his child do his homework that was ordained by the school. The child could not compute his math sums. Then the father beat his child, and slapped him on the face. The boy ran away, and said, “Let me grow, then I’ll kick your ass.” And the dad was shocked with that. I said, “Yes, it is your responsibility to make him learn, but it depends on the child. He’s an individual, whether to learn and go through education or not. If he’s dumb and cannot understand, try to teach him with patience. All people’s intellectual capacities are not equal. Don’t be hurried in your mind. Bringing up the child is a very difficult task. Of course, today he’s young, depending on you and your money. But imagine, when he grows, he won’t consider you as his father, he’ll consider you as his enemy.” Then the man asked, “Is it not my duty to make him go through education?” I said, “Yes, it is your responsibility, But why do you expect immediate results? One more point, let him choose the subject which he’s interested in. Let me tell you one more secret here: without love, and only to dominate him, if you beat him, he’ll certainly recognize it. Then how can he forgive you? Because the impressions formed in childhood are very strong and they remain till death. Me, being a saint, so 170

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many youngsters of 25-30 years of age are attracted to me and call me dad. At that age, I beat them also, but no one rebelled against me. Why? Only with love I did it. When they don’t take responsibility, then I do it. So, only with love, for his sake, can you do it. When I beat them, and later felt sorry for it, the boys themselves feel sorry for it and consoled me. So, look into your inner heart, did you beat him with love or with your arrogance?” Here what is happening in Indian society, the father can’t express his anger in his office, so when he comes back home, the small home is available and he will expel all his anger on his son. That man sat for so many hours and finally said, “Yes my dear sir, you are right, I will try to change myself and ask for forgiveness from my child.” Khalil Gibran, a philosopher, wrote a book called, “Prophet.” In it, an archer named as Time holds a bow in his left hand that is the form of father and mother. He shoots arrows which are named as children. It means you are not producing children. Nature, the Time, shoots the children through this pair onto this world. So you are only the material cause, not the intelligent or efficient cause. So you have not produced the children, they only come through you. It’s like this: you say you cook the food. How can you cook the food without the fire, the flame? But can you say that whenever there is a flame, cooking of food is happening? So what is the main cause for cooking? It is the one who cooks it, the chef. So, parents are like fire, children are like food, but the chef is the Lord Almighty. When you 171

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know this truth, neither you can praise nor appreciate the tasty food, nor can you talk about the drawbacks of it. All the greatness or efficiency goes to the chef, not the fire. Neither can you make the children great nor useless. Please help them. Give them all your property and love. Children can be produced, but not their fate. They are bringing a bundle of their fate from their past incarnations. Love is a wonderful gift of this nature. It is like a well. You have to distribute the water, or draw and use it for your garden again and again. Or the water will stink. In the same way, you have to distribute love. If you don’t, it will stink. Imagine a celestial being appearing in front of you giving you a bowl saying it will produce food. But you have to give it away or it will lose the energy. Will you do it? Yes, of course. In the same way, distribute love to your children. Now he is a child, that’s why he can’t rebel. So you beat him today. But remember, he’s your seed. And look back to how you have accepted your father. The same treatment you got, he’s going to treat you. After all, he’s your seed. It means there are two meanings in it, you are the tree and he’s your seed. And once upon a time your father was a tree and you were the seed. Go to any beginning point of any river, and you’ll see only a small stream. Go to the end of the river you’ll see an ocean. There will be a lot of difference. Here it’s so vast and big. In the same way, now he is only a small child, and he may become very great in the future. So feed him, 172

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love him, help him to grow, and he’ll certainly give it all back to you. Psychologists tell you to shower love upon the children. If you behave with them like a friend, and accept them as they are, they will grow into a great character. They see love everywhere and they too will shower love upon this society and onto their children too. Give them the protection, give them the security, but never claim that you are doing all this. Then they will have the confidence, and they will have lots of affection towards you. You discipline yourself. Don’t break anything in front of them. Otherwise they will break things constantly, and if you ask them why they do it, they’ll say you did it too. In my childhood, I had an experience while I was searching the English dictionary. My dad asked me what I was searching for. I was in the section that started with the letter Y. He said, “Oh it’s great, very few words are there that start with Y. At this age, you want to go through those, it’s great.” It gave me lots of confidence and strength that I had the energy to face so many odds and troubles in my life. My dad was my hero and inspiration. I could go through a painful, suffering life for 50 years without any complaint. But never try to pamper the children. Attachment and pampering is not the love. When it is needed you give them these. Then only they will know what is good and bad, and what is to be applied and what is not to be. If you go on criticizing their way of approach and faults, then when they grow, they will apply the same logic on you and society too. They become criticizers and cynics. 173

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Never try to mock them. Once they start feeling guilt, it becomes guilt in their minds. When children want to express their feelings, and they lack the language, they may stutter and keep repeating I...... I...... I. Never say, “Why are your words stammering? Why can’t you express it? Are you dumb?” Certainly if you go on saying this, for the rest of his life, his voice will stammer. Never criticize your children in front of someone, or never say that your children are handsome and great. You’ll be creating guilt or ego. If you show your enmity towards them, criticize them for every silly thing, and blabber without any proper logic about their deeds and activities, they will learn to talk in the same way. As I’ve previously mentioned, we are four brothers, and I’m the youngest. All of my brother’s were intelligent while I was born sick. I didn’t have the mental capacity to cope up with them. My parents and my elder brothers used to point out these things to the guests in our home. My third brother is very intelligent. And when he used to look at my stupid activities, he used to criticize me that I’m the creation of Vishvāmitra, the buffalo. (In India, the cow is considered a creation of Brahma, the Creator, and is worshipped as holy. While the buffalo, is Vishwāmitra’s creation, and is considered unholy.) Yes, what they said was true, but I wasn’t strong enough in my intellectual capacities or my inner heart to receive it. Sometimes I used to go into depression, but I took it as a challenge. I wanted to prove myself, that I was not any way less than them. For that, I struggled a lot in my life. I tried all kinds of professions, whatever was available to me. I left my 174

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home, and I roamed the entire India. Of course, it gave me a lot of experience. But how many children can come out of such problems easily? That’s why even if your child is not that intelligent, he may be a congenital idiot, and he may act as if he’s stupid, you have to respect and love them. Then they can develop love in their heart. Then they will never insult themselves. Then they will have the confidence in their heart. My father supported me a lot. At 16, I said I didn’t want to study anymore, and he encouraged me to work. And once I said I wanted to join the military, he said ok. When I tried for jobs in various companies, he never objected it. I got a government job, but I felt the salary was very little, so I left it. I wanted to go to Delhi, the capital of India, and join a private company where I could be stable. He always supported me. When the parents are calm and quiet in their mind and treat each child according to their capacities, the children will learn to solve their problems. Then when they grow, they can have the patience and tranquility to handle any situation. Once upon a time in India, in the name of discipline, the teachers of the school used to give a lot of torture to the children. They used to punish the children to do wall chair for one hour. They made them stand against the wall with their legs bent to 90 degrees as if they were sitting on an imaginary chair. Or they forced the children to do kôdanda, where they used to hang the children on their hands and put fire or thorns under their feet. Or they hung them by their feet with fire underneath them. This is called 175

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as despotism. Because of that disease they tried to torture the children. Maybe there are some rare people who went through all this torture, and created a history for themselves. But it does not mean that everyone can do it. So many children were crushed under this cruelty. So be careful in what you do to make the children grow. We first talked about zest, now we are talking about affection and family. In this family situation, the children’s part really gives a wonderful aspect in our life. It is like climbing a steep ladder. It is very difficult, but if you can achieve it, you can have a good link between the lower and higher generation. The mountain is known as parent, and it has to give a chance to the children who are climbing them. “Marriage is like chewing gum, which is sweet in the beginning and sticky in the end,” says Dr. D. Bhaskar Reddy. Why does it happen? When in the beginning it was sweet, why has it become sticky? When you can express your zest, in your heart, it becomes surrender. In the mind, it becomes compassion and forbearance. In the face, it becomes a smile. Then it will be called as zest. To feel happiness in your higher generation, lower generation, or for yourself, you have to show this zest. But for each generation, you have to have different techniques. A smile will work for the children, forbearance for old people, and compassion for your own generation. For half of your 176

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life, you enjoy with surrender. In the other half, you can achieve happiness with love. Otherwise, your entire life becomes that food which does not have any spices. Wife and husband should have total understanding of each other. Then only can they lead a good family life. The man, who understands one woman, is qualified to understand pretty much everything. But really is it true that it applies only to the men? I’m not talking about the nagging woman. I’m talking about a woman who has total womanhood. Men and women are totally different in their body, mind, thoughts, and fixations. That’s why it becomes almost impossible to understand each other. If you cannot understand, then how are you going to live together? If all the humans knew what the other person thinks about them, then there will not be any friends in the world. Love conquers in harmony. Emotions and moods are the enemies of understanding. That’s why I say that if there is harmony, without understanding each other, a pair can be together. This harmony comes only from surrender. The zest is like a flowing river. It is horizontal on the earth. Then it becomes a pleasant life. When you flow this zest towards your children, it will be a flow from the mountain. When you flow this love on the earth, it will be love for your partner. A man can be intelligent and a scholar, but that does not ensure he can love. Because even rogues, rascals and muggers also have knowledge. They don’t have 177

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the love. You may not be understood by your wife, but you can be easily understood by your enemy. Because your enemy will be observing your every second to find your drawbacks so they can kick you, kill you or mug you. That’s why the enemy can be understood easily, but not the wife. She doesn’t need knowledge, as it belongs to the ego, it is the ornament of the ego. Love is the ornament of your heart. Love means to dissolve yourself, surrender yourself, and become one with that other personality. So never try to understand your wife, just love her. When love is lacking, then you’ll try to understand her. The moment you try to understand her, the yoke of love will be broken. Love means accepting the other person as they are, with all their drawbacks, problems, diseases, and ugly behavior. If you say, you are beautiful without any problems and ugly things, then only will I love and accept you, then it cannot be love. Any condition you put with your partner becomes a business. It cannot be a life filled with love. “A good woman is known by what she does. A good man is known by what he does not,” says Helen Rowland. That’s why I suggest you never try to understand each other. Childhood is like a steep ladder; the kids may break their knees when they lack the love from the parents. At the time of marriage, they will be in their fantasies. Since they did not get any love and compassion, they will be expecting everything from 178

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their partner. They will be thinking that after marriage their life will be like heaven. “He or she will worship me with flowers. He or she may not allow me to ever leave the bed. Everything will be served in bed.” She or he thinks the other will understand their feelings, and he will cooperate with them. They will watch movies, and the hero and heroine will embrace, sing songs, and happily sleep on each other’s lap. After the marriage, they will learn that life is far away from all this. Then their hearts will be broken. Then their life becomes a desert. So many problems rise between wife and husband because they were not brought up properly by their parents and they never had the love from them. They are not mature. Though they are grown physically, they are kids mentally. Education has to be given in home or in school. One of the main things to be educated about is sexual intercourse. If one is capable to satisfy the other, so many toxins, fixations, and mental blockages will be driven from the mind and body. If the sexual link is good, there can be so many differences, but all of them can be rectified. After marriage, they will have the extra burden of responsibility, but they won’t take it up. As per the Indian is concerned at present, these suppressed people think that sex is a sin. Or they take it as a play. Since it has not been fulfilled, each one will have suppressions, agony, and tension. That’s why they suffer. When the love rises towards the higher plains, it will be expressed in the eyes as compassion. It expresses as a smile on the face. Such people can never enter into old age. It will keep them in youth. This is the 179

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secret of the spring of youth. That’s why I say, let thy love be strong. Physical satisfaction and mental satisfaction in sex is sexual intercourse. In India, all the family problems come because so many boys and girls hang onto their parents. They can’t come out of the attachment from them. And the parents rule the young couple’s life. That creates a problem. A girl gets married and goes to the husband’s house. All of her family culture, habits, traditional aspects, way of thinking, everything changes here. She will not be able to adjust to it immediately. She will think, “Can I ask for whatever I used to ask my parents?” That’s why she never feels it’s her house. She always feels like her parent’s house is her house. When you look at the same woman after 20 years, and she gets a daughter-in-law in her house, she will talk like this, “This is my house, and the family has to run in my way only. As per our tradition you have to behave”. That’s how she starts lecturing the new bride. For all girls, psychologists say that father is everything because he is the first man of the opposite sex. And he is a father only. That’s why they will have a scale that all men should be like her father. When she goes to some other family, she will be expecting her husband, father-in-law, and brotherin-laws to be like her father. Then she will be talking like this, “In my house, this never used to happen”. This creates a mental blockage in the minds of the family. 180

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They say, “Still you think that this is your house, then get out and go to your home. If you don’t like the way of cooking here, then go back to your home and cook in your own way. Do you think your father is a hero? Then go back there and worship him.” When they talk like this, the bride feels that they could have insulted her, but instead they insulted her father. She will feel bad. All this comes out because of lack of understanding. Every child has to be given proper training. Then only can one remain in the family life happily. In the same way, a boy sees the mother as the first woman in his life. When he gets married, he may not be able to adjust with his mother. He cannot tolerate it, because for 20-25 years he worshipped her as a celestial being. Until the wife gets some place in his heart, that family goes to the dogs. Nagging wives or troubling husbands are not the only aspects for them. They are the products of their parents. They should understand this. I know some Indian families, where a girl who is very soft in her nature becomes a nagging wife. Why? The husband runs a cold war that cannot be seen by anybody. He never takes responsibility of the home. The wife may ask him to bring home a few items from the supermarket. He nods his head, but when he comes home from work he forgets. The next day, she asks again, and he repeats the same answer. Everyday she has to repeat that simple, small work 100 times. Then she starts nagging. Finally it goes to the yelling, 181

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and she starts abusing his parents who made him a useless, dirty, irresponsible man. Some people have the inferiority complex. That’s why they always expect recognition from others. She or he always tries to dominate each other. They won’t accept or agree to any statement that is made by their partners. Both partners are supposed to take the responsibility of doing household work and not doing the work. With all these silly things, life becomes hell. Those women also create the same problems because of their life with their parents, and she becomes a nagging woman. The husband may have a lot of tolerance, but after a breaking point, he may start beating her and yelling at her. Some women have a psychological disease called masochism. Because of this disease, she will nag him so he can torture her, then she will be satisfied. Or the husband has sadism, by torturing the wife, he will be satisfied. Each of these partners, knowingly understanding the proper way of cooking, they will spoil the dishes. In Sanskrit, the male partner is called bhartha, one who dares everything. Look at the spelling of husband; it is actually pronounced as husbend. In Hindi, hus means laughter or smile. Band means closing it. So to north Indians, husband means after the marriage, the smile is closed forever. So they say it has to be spelled as h-u-s-b-e-n-d, as in the word bent or bended. But on paper, pronunciation cannot be clearly delivered as there is a lack of understanding. In the Anglo-Saxon language, hus means house. In the Yeomen language, hus means a 182

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soldier or horse rider or butler. Bua means to dwell in Yeomen. When you put all of them together, the meaning of husband means the owner of a house and also the butler of the house. Once George Bernard Shaw said, “In this universe, everyone has problems and troubles, but there is a difference in the category.” Those who are married think why they are married. And those who are not married think why they are not married. That’s why Montague, another British writer says, “Marriage is like a snare or cage.” Those who are in it want to come out of it, and those who are outside want to enter into it. Till now we have discussed zest, family, and affection which lead us to a happy family union. I may not be able to handle all problems that exist on this earth. I, being an Indian with an understanding of Western culture’s family problems, may not have covered all of their problems. But one point I can say is, any problem can be solved when you have the love. When it gets diverted towards your partners, it can be called as friendship. When it gets diverted towards the younger generation, it can be called as affection. When it gets diverted towards the higher generation such as parents, teachers, patriots, great people, then it becomes respect or belief in their deeds, work and character. When you divert this love towards those who are sick or in a dilapidated condition, it becomes forbearance. These sick people might have seen so many things in their life. They might have won in some aspects, but 183

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they have faced defeat in some of the situations. Maybe they have some fixations because of the mental blockages. Since they have weak senses, some of them become talkative, totally silent, or trouble makers. Some will doubt everyone, but we cannot expect any change in them at this age. They have no control of their mind or body now, so that’s why you have to show compassion to them. Once a daughter-in-law asked me why her mother-inlaw nags her, though she serves her so patiently. Why can’t she show her some love? Then I said, “That poor woman does not have love. She does not have it, how can she give it? But my poor girl, you have compassion in your heart, give it to her. Don’t expect it from her. Your love is not going to end, as it will be growing in your heart further. You have mental stability and physical strength to serve her. Attain happiness by serving her. So, try to develop love in your heart, then you’ll know what to do, how to do it. When your children will look at you while you serve your elders, your children will watch you and they will learn it.” Certainly they will learn this is the way of teaching practically. By teaching so many morals you will not change the children. This way of lovely life is called unaddressed love. Love is like flower’s fragrance. It goes everywhere. Fragrance never says I go into a particular man’s nose because he is an ugly person. This unaddressed love is like the full moon’s light. It never expects to be watched by anybody. That is allpervasiveness. 184

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In forest or society, the moon sends its light. It is like a candle which will be spread from all sides. Then your entire life becomes happiness. 4. 5. 6.

Work Impersonal Interests Effort And Resignation

“Don’t tell me how hard you work. Tell me how much you get done,” says J. Ling. In the way of Russell, we reached the three final steps. First is work, as work can give us happiness. Yes, for 50 years I worked and I’m very happy. If I don’t have work, I’ll be literally mad. But it doesn’t mean all people will be happy doing all works. So find out the work which gives you happiness. Normally that work which has no selfishness will certainly give happiness to everyone. Selfishness contains expectation. For the one who is working, his goal and aim concentration will be on the payment. And that payment which gives him comfort, food, and clothes, he will think about them only while doing the work. So when he’s working, if he thinks about all that, how can he do that work? And he will be thinking about tomorrow, then how can he work today? If he’s thinking about tomorrow, then his body is present in the workplace, but not the mind. The mind has gone to the future. When his body is empty without his mind, it is a dead corpse. When he’s dead for today, how can he live tomorrow? 185

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So selfishness leads to greed. Greed makes you die. So be lively. Be active. Choose those selfless works. “If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need,” says Cicero. That knowledge you receive is the intellectual food, and you can get it from the library. And if you work in your garden, your body will be relaxed. When you love your work, you’ll be swimming in the river of happiness. When there is no chance for your mind to go into the future, you go into the present time. While working in your garden, you’ll be trimming the lawns, pouring some water and natural pesticides, cutting the bushes, and in the middle of the earth you may have a swimming pool which you clean weekly and happily swim in daily. All this garden work and swimming is wonderful exercise for your body. And when you finally look at it you feel so happy in your mind. There was a botanist who used to win the first prize every year in the competition. Somebody asked him what his secret was. He said, “I go and talk to the bushes and say, ‘My good friends, never deprive me. You are my good friends for so many years. Whatever you want, I will feel it from you. This year we are supposed to win. If at all we lose, everyone will laugh at us. If they laugh at me, is it not an insult to you.’ Everyday I say this to the bushes, till now they have never deprived me.”

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In 1968, Dr. Benjamin Rush said that in mental hospitals, if all the patients have the chance to work in the garden, then so many can be cured. In 1806, a Spanish doctor said that remaining in the garden for hours together, serving the bushes, touching the flowers, and smelling the fragrance can make any person with a psychiatric disease relaxed. They will have a lot of confidence in them. Everyone calls them mad, but see the beautiful work they did. Look at those flowers with so many colors. With such greenery, everyday they grow and flower. Then, in their life, they will have the confidence that they will flower and grow. Then they get out of their drawbacks, go back to society, and live like any normal person. With all this selfless work and dedicated work without impersonal interests, having resignation, rest, a beautiful, wonderful hunger and good sleep makes everyone happy. In America, scientists found an apparatus called as a feedback apparatus. A person can be operated on and the equipment can be kept in his body. Whenever he feels emotions, feelings, and thoughts, it will be clearly indicated in their minds. Not only that, the heartbeat or pulse, and any change in the body or mind will be immediately informed to the mind. So he becomes very much aware of his mind and body. But without any electronic equipment, we can attain this awareness in meditation. In musical meditation, it is called as listening to ten different melodies of the heart. So meditation itself is the way of healing. You’ll attain the awareness and consciousness. Once the mind is quiet, the body follows that. Then happiness will be yours. 187

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LAST AID “Age doesn’t protect you from love. But love to some extent protects you from age.” The scholar, George Bernard Shaw spent his final days in a small countryside. Somebody interviewed him and asked, “Why have you left the town?” Shaw said, “When I was in that big town, I went to a cemetery, and I saw some writings on a burial. This person died untimely, only at 110 years. Then I thought, ‘Why can’t I live in a countryside so I can live longer?’” Actually, he ended up living for very long time in the countryside. Psychiatrists say that the social totality of the people’s age decides people’s individual lives too. If a society or a country decides the average is 70, then at 68 to 72, everyone starts dying. Of course, there are rare cases, but normally it happens like this. A person always wants to live in the future. Why? When he cannot live happily today, why does he think about the future? It means that today he’s not living. It means today itself he died. When he’s not living today, how can he have the future? He never saw what he’s supposed to see today. He never attained what he’s supposed to attain today. He never experienced all the ecstasy which he’s supposed to experience, then how can he have the future? How can he attain anything in the future?

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Many of those whoever were considered to be the greatest saints or messengers belonged to the families of the kings, rulers and rich people. Lord Rama was the king of Ayodhya. Lord Krishna built Dwaraka, which is full of riches. Lord Buddha was also the son of a king. Jaina Mahavīra was also a prince of a small dynasty. Mohammad also fought with the sword to attain his goal. In the same way, one more point I’m ready to explain to you is that the so-called richest country, America has a high rate of suicides. After going through all this, to be vexed with the worldly pleasures and to go into the truth, either they have to renunciate everything or commit suicide. But it happens with those people only who have enjoyed their life and riches. A poor man can never do it because he never forgets his bread and butter today. He’ll be waiting for tomorrow. So to live happily tomorrow, or to give up this life, today you have to enjoy thoroughly. I never saw any beggar committing suicide. He will be eagerly waiting for tomorrow to become the richest person. Or he will think, though I lived like a beggar, maybe in my next birth I can become rich. Those who live in dreams can never commit suicide. I know some beggars who hide their identity to make their children go for the higher education. That is their dream. Since they are not able to live their life today, it happens. When a person enjoys thoroughly his life, he will be vexed with it. He thinks he either he has to renunciate, or commit suicide. There are only two ways out. Once a person gives up the desire to live, his body goes after his mind. Body is only a 189

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servant to this mind. When you lose the desire to live in your mind, the body loses resistance. Because of resistance in the body only, we can face all diseases easily. That’s why one who has not lost the desire to live, may become sick, get bed ridden, or may be in coma, but he can live for so many years. Today in this world, we are facing a peculiar disease from the HIV virus. And it is also called as AIDS. It is entering and pervading into this world very fast. At original publication of this book in 1993, 400,000 people per year were getting this disease. If it continued at this rate, by 2020, 3/4 of the population will die because of this disease. Doctors and scientists are trying their best to find some medicine to bring them out of this disease. I say that it is impossible to find a way. Because it is not a physical disease; it is a mental fixation. Once one gets it, and your body resistance disappears, any small changes in the weather, or any small virus can kill him. He may die from a cold, fever, or from a heavily bleeding wound because the body cannot control it. The body lost its natural way of controlling the diseases. Is humanity losing the will to live? If it is the society’s will, the individual cannot resist. But when has it started, and why has it started? And why can’t we control it? When the research scholars did so much research on this AIDS, they started declaring that it might have come from homosexuality. Such people may not have such fixations in their mind, or fantasies, but they are suffering from the same problem. Then the scholars said that heterosexuals got AIDS when they had sex 190

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with a person who had homosexual or lesbian sex. But I feel that when a person changes so many partners, they will have it because they are expecting some variety. Constantly they will change their partners, searching and trying to go to the depth of the sexual pleasure. They may think, “Maybe this person could satisfy me, I didn’t get pleasure from this person, I’ll get it from other.” This mad thinking leads them to the edge, and they will end up in a valley. When they look back, everything is flooded. All of his partners already recognized him as a player, and they won’t allow them back. He has nowhere to go than the end of his life. All of theories are nonsense because any disease is karmically linked to our past lives and our fate that brought us here on the planet. So many babies are born with HIV, and so many people in the past unknowingly received the virus from blood transfusions in hospitals. And any person with a fever can die from complications if their resistance is low. Love that springs from your meditation is the last aid. Otherwise you’ll be in AIDS. One who has no future nor past will have no comparison with anything. He will never have experienced things or unexperienced things. He will never have the future desires. He never has the past fears. That is meditation, which is your true nature. Then you can be happy. Looking to this day for yesterday is but a dream. Look today, but yesterday is a dream, and tomorrow is a dream.

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A very well lived today, makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope. Therefore, look well to this day.

ALL THIS IS UNTRUE “Are you aware that man has ever been deceived by others by as much as he has been deceived by himself?” says Osho. An ochre-robed saint went to some place to give lectures and he was returning back towards his monastery. On the way, he saw a person selling some birds, and he had a beautiful bird with him. The saint liked it. He paid him well and purchased it. He carried it and while walking towards his monastery, the bird started speaking to him, “My dear good sir, if you give me freedom from this cage, I can give you beautiful advice. Three advices, not only one.” Astonished, that so-called saint looked at the bird and said, “Oh you can talk.” The bird started saying, “Yes, of course, I’m the divine bird. Like you, I used to give lectures to the birds and all other birds used to respect me. All my advice and lectures are beneficial to them, that’s what they say. So you too can have three of my advices.” Then the so-called saint said, “Please, tell me three great words, and I shall release you from the cage.”

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Then, the bird started speaking. Number one, However great, rich, saintly, scholarly one may be, but when he says something which is not logical, don’t believe it. Number two, However great your experience may be, never try to do that work which is impossible. Try to remember your own limits. Number three, Never feel guilty about that good work which you did happily. Then he let her go from the cage, and he continued to his monastery. “Oh”, he was thinking in the mind, “What a great thing she told me. In the evening, I will tell my disciples. Maybe I have to write it on the boards and write it on a wall. Everyday I have to read it to them”. Meanwhile, the bird which he freed landed on a branch of a tree and started talking again, “You fool, I have a diamond in my belly. If at all you get it, you will become the richest person on earth. And you simply left me?” The so-called saint was very angry saying, “You really betrayed me. Just wait I will catch you.” Then he started climbing the tree. When he reached the branch where she was sitting, she went up to another branch. He tried again, and the bird also flew to the higher levels. It went on and on. When they reached the final edge, the bird flew away. And that man who wanted to catch her, slipped and fell down. He broke both of his legs. He had so many wounds on his body. He could not even move. The bird came, sat on the branch of the tree, and started laughing. 193

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The so-called saint asked, “Why have you cheated me?” The bird started talking, “Think properly. I never cheated you. You cheated yourself. If you could have followed the three advices said by me, you could not have been like this. I said, in the first point, never to believe that which is illogical. I said there is a diamond in my belly. Can any bird keep a diamond in her belly? It’s not logical. My second advice is never to try for impossible things. Can anybody catch a bird with their bare hands? But you never followed that too. The third one is more important. You gave freedom to me, and it’s a good deed. But you felt really guilty about it. Why should you feel guilty about the good deed you did? It means you have listened to my three advices, but you have never followed them. However great the words may be, if you won’t follow them, they are useless. And you gather them to teach someone else like an ordinary scholar. You cheated yourself, I never cheated you.” Whoever reads this book may like it or may not like it. Or some may use it to teach others. Whatever I wrote is from my experience. I’m trying to follow what I wrote sincerely, that’s why I’m happy. If you really follow this, you too can be happy. But other than that, if you use this material for something else, then I will say you have cheated yourself. “Those who want your goodness, benefit, and happy living, they never try to teach you. They never feel that they are greater than you. They never feel that they are teachers. They always behave as good friends. They want your 194

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happiness alone, they expect nothing,” says Maitreya.

LAST WORDS How much importance do I give from the logic, which sprang from the intellect? The same value I give to the feeling which springs from my heart. But I always live only in my heart because the so-called logical thinking which sprang from my intellect has always cheated me. They never made me to reach my goal. I never preach to this society to change. But I always ask them not to poke their nose in my life. Beauty in the world is not untrue. Don’t tell me the body means muscles and bones. Then it is inert. When you say that the body is the path, it is inert. But does it not have the potmaker’s creative intellect in it? Bodily shapes and proportions are beautiful for the eye. But it has got a touch of consciousness. Then with the dance it has become a rhythmic posture. That is beauty. Beautiful eyesight and a beautiful, comfortable soothing touch. So-called philosophers say that if you are going to get pleasure from the body, then why don’t you enjoy the corpse? But don’t be in lovely lives, they also are hindrances to attain the absolute reality. But without them, the heart cannot be melted. When your heart cannot melt, your inner spirit cannot have the throbbing. Without the conscious throbbing, life will not be there. This is my experience. That’s what I wrote in this book.

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Slowly in a comfortable way, I wanted to insert this fool. A corpse has no consciousness, but this inert body has a beauty in itself with a conscious touch. I am not there in deeper meditations to attain the higher realms of ecstasy. Yes, of course I wanted to revel in the lap of the creator who has created this beautiful world, but yet, I have not attained him. That’s why I follow “truna jalūka nyāya”, it means that centipede which catches hold of one blade of grass, and then slowly it starts pulling its body from another blade of grass. It inches along on each blade of grass. In the same way, when I get the glimpse of the Lord Almighty, the creator, when I get his feet, slowly I will pull myself, and give this world away, and reach his beautiful abode. I am not like any other faking saints. And my philosophical vision is not away from my life which I am living. It doesn’t mean I dip myself up to the nose in sense pleasures. I also say in one more sentence, I’m not going to give it up in a dark cave, sit and meditate. I never believe that by closing your eyes in a dark cave can you obtain the absolute truth. All the soft corners of the mind and lovely lives are also the hindrances to attain the absolute reality. But without them, our heart can never melt. And without this meditation, we will never have the inner heart throb. Without that throb, there is no life. That’s what I experienced in my life. In a soft way, I wanted to insert my way of philosophy onto the people.

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Let us see and wait how much I can succeed. - Maitreya

APPENDIX 1. Always try to keep yourself busy in some work or other. Try to keep yourself always engaged in something. 2. Try to be in the company of so many people. Because you being all alone, you may get bored. 3. Try to do all that activity which is productive and useful to the society. 4. Please keep your itinerary ready for the entire month or year. Plan all of your work, think of any problems that may arise, plan to control them, and set them right. 5. Never be depressed. Your depression may make you totally a mere vegetable. 6. Try to decrease your desires and expectations. 7. Think good thoughts and always hope for good. 8. Try to forget about your past and future. Try to concentrate only on the present time, and focus all of your energies onto it. 197

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9. Try to keep your body and mind healthy so that you can actively participate in your work. 10.Don’t be shy or guilty. Never keep yourself alone with the society. Try to mix in with them. 11.Accept yourself. Never criticize or be depressed about your personality. 12.Never try to escape from the problems. Try to solve them. Never have the negative thinking. Never allow any depressing thoughts in your mind. 13.Those who are around you, may they be your family members, friends, or colleagues. Maintain good relations with them. 14.In any circumstances, always keep in your mind that you wanted to be happy. Those who follow these 14 points suggested by me, can be happy. Think deeply about all of them. – Professor P.V. Krishna Rao, director of Andhra University, Psychology and Parapsychology “I think I can live with the animals in harmony, because I see tranquility in their eyes and selfcontentedness in their hearts. That’s why hours together I stand in front of them and observe them constantly. They never feel guilty. They go to sleep in the night happily, not brooding over their sins. They never pester me about what kind of responsibility I have 198

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towards the God. They never have any dissatisfaction and selfishness. They never prostrate in front of each other. They never worship their ancestors who died thousands of years back. They have no complaint about this creation,” says Walt Whitman. “What kind of snake is it? In the bible it is said that Adam and Eve ate that prohibited fruit and fell down from the Eden. And from that time onwards, their progeny, the humankind, are in sorrow. As per the yoga, there is a serpent in the mūlādhāra, the basic energy center located at the bottom of the spinal cord, and it is sleeping in coils. When you wake it up with meditation, finally it reaches the sahasrāra, the top of the head. And you can attain the absolute happiness, reality. In this book, I described about that snake. Please read it and find it out,” says Maitreya.

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