EXPECTATION IS THE ROOT OF DISAPPOINTMENT Faced with disillusionment means that we had expectations, and expectations are the mother of disillusionment, frustration, and all those things associated with it. Everyone will expect something. But what is expectation based upon? It is very easy to say do not expect things, which is a profound metaphysical truth, but human nature is such that they wish. There are expectations, you cannot get rid of them. You expect your husband to be faithful, your wife to be loyal, this to be that, and that to be that, children to be good, and it does not work out that way. A person has a business and wants his monthly turnover to be two hundred thousand. He feels disappointed if he does not reach his target. Disappointment is another close relative of disillusionment. When you learn to accept the situation you are in, that disillusionment will disappear. Acceptance necessarily requires innocence, as innocence is a state of mind that contains purity. When anything is pure, it becomes simple. So even while the expectation is there, it will be simple and therefore reduce the impact of being disillusioned. When the effect of disillusionment is lessened, you will find that in the future, expectations are also lowered. They work in a circle, where one leads to the next, and the next leads to the one. It is so easy to say ‘accept whatever life gives us,’ but can we truly accept? We have to bring the mind to a much calmer level, and when the mind is at a more relaxed level, we would say, ‘so what.’ I think I have said this before, that there are only two kinds of people who could say, so what: the one who is responsible, and the other who is irresponsible. He just does not care, so he says, ‘So what.’ But the accountable man cares, and yet at the same time, because his mind is in a calmer state, he will say, “Come what may. So what?” And with that state of mind, you do not feel disillusioned, because you were not expecting too much in the first place. IN THE INNOCENT STATE, THERE IS NO DISILLUSIONMENT What else can we do to mitigate the impact of expectations, and how can we lessen it? What else can be done? It is by one thought that should always dominate one’s mind, that I will do my best. I will do my very best, and if it works out, fine. If not, I accept that as well. Then there will be no disillusionment. This requires that the innocent state is pure. Purity has nothing to do with morality. Morality is a human construct and originates from the mind. All moral injunctions come from the mind, and it is these very injunctions that have caused more harm to the world than good, because these produce guilt, and as I have said many times, that guilt is the most significant disease in the world. It is even more severe than cancer or heart disease. Guilt has killed more people and made them more mentally unstable than anything else in the world. But purity is something different. Purity comes from deep within yourself, and when that purity is awakened within yourself through spiritual practices, you will find everything to be good. So, purity goes beyond the law of opposites, while morality is within the law of opposites. When you go beyond the law of opposites, there is no disillusionment, for everything is good. I expect my child to pass his exam. I will do my best for my child. Create conditions in the home and his environment that will help him pass his exams, and that is the best I can do. If he does not, that is him, and I am not going to feel disillusioned. Because what is the greatest thing I can expect? DESTINY IS A CONCEPT OF THE MIND They say you are a master of your destiny. There is some truth in it, but that truth is not well understood. What do we mean by destiny, and you being the master? Is destiny mastering you, or are you mastering destiny? Speaking from a spiritual level, there is no destiny. You come from nowhere and you go nowhere; you are just here. For your spiritual self is always here: eternal, immortal, omnipresent. So, where can you go? How can you master that which is? You do not master it, but you uncover it. So, the very concept of destiny is also a mental concept, and when one indulges in these kinds of ideas of destiny, and you do not reach your goal, you feel disillusioned. So when we enter the area of purity that is within ourselves, we find everything to be good. WHAT IS THE REALITY OF LIFE A man goes to the races and loses a thousand dollars, and he will come home feeling terrible. I know a man who borrowed money to go to the races to gamble, and he lost it all. He was so sure that he was going to win, so when he lost, he had a heart attack. I was called up to the hospital where I had to treat him. He said it came from the horse’s mouth, so he could not lose. So that expectation brought him disillusionment and gave him a heart attack. You can see how the attitude of the mind plays a significant part in our mental and physical well-being. It has an effect. I will not be disillusioned with anything. Because I am living in an illusion as it is. What is the reality of life? What reality is there? If there is reality, it should be permanent, for reality is always permanent, while this life is transitory. So why should I be disillusioned about anything? We are forty people here; I would like to talk to four hundred. But even if there were only four, I
The Illusion of Bondage, the Reality of Freedom: Awakening to the Light Within
Bliss, Buddha, Christ, Conscious Mind, Consciousness, Divine, Divinity, Freedom, Impressions, Integration, Joy, Kingdom of Heaven within, Krishna, Law of opposites, Light, Mental Patternings, Mind, Omnipresent, Peace, Relative World, Religion, Samskaras, Spiritual Practices, Strength, Subconscious, Superconscious, The Absolute, Unity, Universe
BONDAGE IS A MENTAL CONSTRUCTION Your very nature is freedom. If Divinity is omnipresent, and if Divinity represents freedom, then, because of the nature of omnipresence, which is freedom itself, you should feel free. There is a difference between reality and actuality. Reality could be appearance, while actuality is that which is. So, this bondage which shackles you, these handcuffs, this ball, this chain, that does not allow you to move as you want to move, where does that come from? Does it exist? If you find any reality in it, is this reality of your mind, or is it an actuality? You go to see a movie or a magic show, and you see the magician cutting a woman in half. You know it is an illusion, yet it is still there. It seems real. But is it actual? The woman will turn up a few minutes later, more alive than ever. So, what is bondage? Can bondage be described as an illusion? Are you living in an illusion, or are you living as you are? Teachers tell you to be like Buddha, be like Krishna, be like Christ. But I tell you, be yourself! By being yourself, you can get rid of the illusion of bondage. You that are boundless, you that are boundaryless, why do you go through the suffering of the sense of bondage? If you are going through the sense of bondage, where does bondage come from? Where does this illusion or superimposition upon yourself come from? It stems from your thinking. Think that you are bound, and you are bound. Think that you are free, and you are free. If you keep thinking, “I am weak, I am weak, I am weak,” you will become weaker and weaker. YOU CAN ONLY RELEASE YOUR GATHERED PATTERNING THROUGH YOUR MIND So, you have no control over yourself. Due to the patterns in your mind, resulting from the various experiences you have undergone in this life or perhaps in ages past, you have created patterns upon patterns within your subconscious mind. Because the subconscious mind is unable to contain all those patterns upon patterns, it has to release them. And the only way it could release them would be to expel those patternings through the conscious mind, through the analytical mind, through the thinking mind, which in turn expresses itself through your five senses, like hearing, seeing, touching, smelling, and tasting. These patterns originate in the subconscious level of the mind, which is non-existent in substance. It is only a coming together or a bundle of impressions. These impressions come in two different ways. They can be gathered from past experiences and collected from your environment. If the climate impresses you so much that it leaves those scars of patterns in the mind, what do you do to be non-affected by the outer impressions? The way is to strengthen yourself, but how do you maintain yourself? How can you get rid of the patternings, and how can you stop yourself from the input that is thrust upon you through your teachers, through your parents, through your friends, through the environment at large? How can you stop yourself from being influenced by these influences? What tools do you have? THE MIND IS THE ONLY TOOL YOU HAVE TO CLARIFY THE MIND The only tool you have is the mind itself, where the conscious level of the mind—the analytical level that functions from the left hemisphere of the brain—can be guided through the various patterns of the subconscious level of the mind. You do not need to destroy those patterns because there is nothing in the universe that is destructible, and science today has proved that you could never kill even a single atom. Even when this body is discarded, it is not destroyed; instead, it will revert to its original elements: water will return to water, air to air, ether to ether, and dust to dust. That is the idea. However, humans have an innate ability to reach further back with the help of the conscious mind and go beyond the subconscious mind to a level that I term the superconscious mind. Although it is also relative, the superconscious mind is at the subtlest point of relativity, and therefore, it has maximum clarity.Through spiritual practices, through a scientific method which has nothing to do with religion, you reach that area of the superconscious level of the mind, and then the clarity that is felt there could be brought back down through the same hotline to the subconscious and then to the conscious level of the mind which interprets itself in your daily actions. DRAWING UPON THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN WITHIN AND ALLOWING THE LIGHT TO SHINE THROUGH If you can remove the veils of the subconscious mind, that totality of impressions that are gathered there, or pierce through them and reach the superconscious level, then that superconscious level, that finest point of relativity which is connected to that which is Absolute, the absolute light, then that absolute light will shine through the tunnel that you have created and the patternings, the dirt in the subconscious mind and the conscious mind is banished. The darkness is banished. That is how you treat yourself holistically, where you draw upon this power of the Kingdom of Heaven within. You draw from there and allow that light to shine through this hotline, this channel, this tunnel, so that you can become more and more integrated, suffused, and infused by this divine light that is within you. The entire universe is contained within you. There is no somewhere where you have to go to find it. It is there within you, and knowing yourself, you will spontaneously know everything that is outside you. So, you reach a state which could be called Unity Consciousness. Where you, the little I – John, Jean, Jack, or James – is in touch with the higher “I” within yourself, the universal “I”. So here the small
Finding Divinity in Love: The Effort of One, the Return of Ten
MAKE YOUR GARDEN BEAUTIFUL AND THE BUTTERFLIES WILL COME BY THEMSELVES We say that when we take one step towards Divinity, Divinity takes ten steps towards us. You will find this occurrence in daily life when the mind is filled with goodness. Divinity is always synonymous with goodness. Nobody ever says Divinity is bad. So, if our minds are saturated with thoughts of Divinity, we draw grace from Divinity. It is a natural force of our thoughts, be it negative or positive, that whatever we think we will attract, and this attraction applies to love as well. If you want to be successful in anything, in a career, in love, in anything, and if your mind is firmly established on that particular object that you want to reach, you will find conditions around you that will make it conducive for you to achieve that object. One of the secrets of success in worldly terms, of course, is to develop a burning desire. With a burning desire, you plan to make five million dollars in five years. That desire must burn within you; it must consume you. Meanwhile, you formulate a plan and work according to it, setting your goal. You will find that because of that burning desire, you will attract people and conditions to you that will further your plans and make you successful. The same principle applies to Divinity, but here it is not a burning desire but a yearning to become one with Divinity. If there is any selfishness, that by becoming one with Divinity I will have this reward or that reward, or that reward, then it is not yearning, it becomes wishful thinking. So, you develop that love, that yearning for that which is Divine, and you proceed on the path towards Divinity, and because of your yearning and feelings within you that are so strong, you attract. Just as I used an analogy before, you do not need to call the butterflies; simply make your garden beautiful, and they will come on their own accord, hundreds of them. OUR ACTIONS HAVE TO BE CONDUCIVE WITH THE LAWS OF NATURE That principle also applies to love. The love between a man and a woman is not so dependent on both parties being together. Suppose, If you love a woman just for the sake of love, not for lust or any other greed, not because of any infatuation. In that case, you just love and you will find, for example, that the practice of Gurushakti is based upon that – you will find that she will start loving you, but for that, one needs strength, which is acquired through spiritual practices. When one loves strongly and deeply and first understands the meaning of love, that love is then activated in the entire relationship and the whole universe. I have never found anyone who hates me, and the reason is simple because I love everyone and everything. By loving everyone and everything, those who are receptive come to me with love. Love becomes a gift that you give unselfishly, and love is another name for expressing Divinity. Suppose you take a step in the direction of Divinity. In that case, Divinity takes ten steps towards you, not necessarily in the physical form that makes things easier for you or conducive for you, for who knows the ways of Divinity. A man might be going through so many troubles, there too, Divinity is at work. It is the energy of Divinity that enforces the law of karma, and whatever you sow, you reap. It enforces; the very Divine energy enforces that. Therefore, our actions have to be conducive to the laws of nature, to Divinity, or to love, which is the same thing. LOVE KNOWS NO ATTACHMENT Modern Psychologists would talk about physical and mental chemistry that brings two people together. There is some truth in it, but only a fraction of the truth. Whatever happens inside you does express itself in a kind of mental or physical chemistry. They cannot define the chemistry. They cannot define the various secretions in the body that make one love another. For lack of a better word, they would say that there is some mental chemistry at play when two people are deeply attracted. However, due to each experience, many of you can have a great deal of attraction and yet not love. It could be just a surface feeling, and then as you pursue this, the surface feeling would naturally fade away. But if it is from deep within, it would never, never fade away, and every day it would seem as if you had married your wife just yesterday, even if you are married for twenty-six years, twenty-seven, thirty years, still looking new. But in the beginning, the chemistry, to use that expression, was not right, and that inner feeling was not there, and then people still dove on together for twenty-five, thirty years, but not with the intensity of love. They become attached, which is why they often live together. Love knows no attachment. They become dependent on each other, and so they are forced by circumstances to live together, rather than the husband having to hire a housekeeper to cook and clean, so he has a wife. The wife requires a breadwinner, so she has a husband, and they go through life for all those thirty, forty years, perhaps or whatever, being dependent upon each other, but not because of love. There is a difference. You find people saying, “Oh, John has been married for thirty years with his wife, and they must be loving each other so, so much,” but that is very seldom true. LIKE DIVINITY, LOVE IS NOT A QUALITY Supremely few people in this world can love, and as Dante has said, the greater the man, the greater his love. So, by greatness we do not mean that he is a Prime Minister of a country or some great genius. That is
The Secret of Supernatural Powers: Mental Gifts Are Not Spiritual Attainments
Acceptance, Ancient Sages, Bible, Bliss, Buddha, Chela, Conscious Mind, Divinity, Effort, Ego, Evolution, Force, Free Will, God, Guru, Joy, Law of Nature, Laws, Love, Meditation, Mind, One-pointedness, Oneness, Path, Relative World, Scriptures, Self, Self-integration, Self-Realization, Soul, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Practices, Universal, Universe
THERE IS ONLY ONE MIND; AT A SUBTLE LEVEL, ALL MINDS ARE INTER-CONNECTED The mind of man is universal. The extent of the mind is as vast as the entire universe. That means that if bubbles are in the pond, each bubble is connected to the other bubble. The same water connects it. The water that forms one bubble at this end is the same water that forms a bubble at the other end, and therefore there is a connection. If we disturb the water on this seashore of the sea, the same vibrational effect will have some impact on the seashore on the other side. So, there is an unbroken oneness between all minds, but the unbroken oneness between all minds is subtle. So, when we are centred when we have come to the centre of ourselves, we have reached a certain subtle level of the mind, where we are automatically, perhaps consciously, and in a sense of knowingness, know that my mind is not separate from the minds of others. It has happened many times in the Satsangs we have had. Many people have come to me afterwards and said, “I had a question for you, Gururaj, but before I asked you, you answered it.” So, all minds are interconnected, and when the mind is brought to a refined, subtle level, one can have these flashes of telepathy, where a person existing or living hundreds of miles away can feel those thought forms, can feel those vibrations, here and now. We have heard of instances where a son has an accident, and at that moment, the mother feels just something, feels a specific concern without rhyme and reason. Some worry sets in her mind about her son. At that moment when the son has an accident, in that shock or in that situation, he has become so centred that in that centredness, that very thought of his mother is in his mind, and his mother picks up that thought because the connection between the son’s mind and the mother’s mind is one, it is a continuum, it is never separated. There are four thousand million people worldwide, and everyone’s mind is connected. Not only in this world but also in the universe are our minds connected to the totality of all minds, for there is only one mind. At the subtler level, like in the pond, there is only one mass of water, represented by millions of bubbles that seem separate to us. So, when we have experiences of telepathy, our mind has consciously been opened to receive a powerful thought sent by another, in ordinary thinking very powerfully, or in a crisis when thought becomes even more powerful, and that thought is picked up. TELEPATHY IS VERY TRUE AND VERY POSSIBLE In the same manner, thoughts can be transmitted to other people’s minds, and this all falls in the same category of how mind reading is done, where one’s mind is tuned to another person’s mind, but that tuning can take place only at a much subtler level. So those glimpses you have of telepathy, where you, from the subtle level, can bring a thought that another person is thinking to a cognisable conscious level, is very accurate and possible. One can be trained to use this power consciously. One can be taught through meditational practices, to reach a certain subtle level of the mind, where in that subtle level of the mind, the thoughts of others can be picked up, and not only picked up but through the subtle level of the mind, an idea is sent to the subtle level of another’s mind. There is a widespread experiment, which we have read so much about in books. You are on a train, and they say that if you stare with a thought, “Turn around,” at the neck of a person in front of you, then that person, without knowing, will just turn around. We have read a lot of books about this. It is possible; many of you must have tried it. What has happened here is that the power of thought has been sent forth powerfully. If one thought can be sent powerfully, then all thoughts can be sent powerfully. We know that in Buddha’s life, he was often asked a question and answered it with absolute silence. He would not reply verbally, yet the questioner would leave with his question answered. All of us might have experienced this; I have experienced this plenty of times, where the person comes to ask a question and leaves without even asking. And then I say, “Where are you going? You have come for something.” And he says, “No, it is all solved already.” So, these things keep on happening, and it is nothing supernatural; it is nothing extraordinary. It is something very, very natural. That seems supernatural because we do not understand the laws that operate. Like I always say, if someone, a hundred years ago, told you that a two-thousand-ton machine could fly through the air, you would think that the person is mad. But today, we find planes flying; we do not notice them. All these things operate within the relative, and we know that we are only using a small percentage of the mind, and such a large percentage, over ninety per cent of the mind, is lying dormant, untapped, unused. Yet there are existences beyond this little Earth of ours. We are not even a grain of sand on the seashore of the universe. There are existences where telepathy is spoken language and verbalisation is unnecessary. It would be nice if it could happen on Earth. So, there are levels of far, far finer existences where this is natural. Here on Earth, communicating verbally is natural; in other planes of existence, communicating non-verbally is natural. DO NOT LOSE SIGHT OF THE GOAL Through further practice, these glimpses can be brought about to become a permanent reality, but there are dangers to
The Avatara Today: Not to Be Believed In, But to Be Experienced
Avatara, Buddha, Christ, Divinity, Evolution, Force, God, Gurushakti, Heart, I and my Father are one, Incarnation, Joy, Law of Nature, Light, Meditation, Mind, Oneness, Path, Relative World, Scriptures, Spiritual Force, Spiritual Master, Spiritual Path, Spiritual Practices, Spiritual Teacher, Superconscious, The Three Gunas, Unfoldment, Universe, Wisdom
THE AVATARA COMES TO STILL THE TURBULENCE It is said in the Bhagavad Gita that “When there is an imbalance of righteousness and evil persists, I take birth from age to age.” Why does the Personal God want to incarnate as an Avatara? He does not want to incarnate as an Avatara. You make the Avatar incarnate. This world, along with all the other planets, is the realm where the Avatar is incarnated. When evil rises, you are forced to bring that old chap down in human form. As every human being has an emanation around him, so collectively, there is an emanation, too, which we might call aura. A country has its emanations, a town has, this world has an emanation, and the universe has its emanations. And when imbalances occur, like waves in the ocean, the waves are high; at some places, the waves are low, yet underlying that is all such beautiful calmness. The Personal God or the Avatara is more concerned with the waves than the calmness, for it is to still the waves that the Avatara comes, not for the calmness, although he is calm too. THE THREE GUNAS, RAJAS, TAMAS, AND SATTVA The Gunas, Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva, which you have heard of and that I have spoken about many times, are not necessarily confined to man. However, the entire Earth is also composed of Rajas, Tamas, and Sattva because these are natural forces. So, because of our thoughts and actions, we allow Tamas to dominate or predominate, and when greater emphasis is placed upon Tamas, then a greater imbalance occurs, and the darkness and inertia of Tamas overcomes the light of Sattva or the finer quality. Tamas represents inertia and darkness, while Sattva represents light; the activating force between these two opposite poles is Rajas, which acts as the catalyst. It makes Tamas and Sattva interact with each other. Therefore, due to our thought forces on this planet, we either have a greater amount of Sattva or a greater amount of Tamas. And sometimes, we have an equilibrium where all these qualities of the three Gunas are at a steady level. Like the ocean, sometimes it is calm. The currents within it are so well balanced that calmness comes. WHEN DARKNESS PREVAILS, THE SUPERCONSCIOUSNESS IS AUTOMATICALLY ACTIVATED As energies are shifted around, there comes a time in the life of any planet or solar system where a greater amount of turbulence occurs, and the emanation of this world causes this turbulence. When negativity arises, as it is happening now, with excessive permissiveness, an intense amount of killing, thoughts, and actions that are not conducive to nature, then it must be righted to preserve a balance between the Gunas that compose this world. When a greater amount of thought of a dark nature arises and composes the atmosphere of this planet, then it has to be righted. The finer energies of the superconscious level or the finest level of relativity are automatically activated and attracted to where it is needed, and that we call the incarnation of the Personal God. So, do a lot of evil, and you will attract him. Like a magnet, you attract him – he has to come. That positive force has to come to overcome the opposing force. He takes the form of a human being because all the other three kingdoms —minerals, plants, and animals — are proceeding according to nature and natural laws. They are proceeding according to the push of evolution without impeding progress. But the man, with his thinking ability, the mind I always liken to a cunning animal, starts impeding progress, and a halo of negativity surrounds the entire Earth. Just as clouds, when they become heavy, must come down as rain; similarly, negativity must be balanced out. Although this world cannot exist without Tamas, it is one of the fundamental components of creation. So, the Avatara is born, and he is born as a human being because he goes to the trouble spot, and human beings are the troublemakers. Not the minerals, plants, or animals; they are not troublemakers. They exist according to their nature. That is why a human form is required. EVEN THE AVATARA HAS TO GO THROUGH AN UNFOLDMENT TO FIND HIMSELF However, that Personal God has numerous problems. The most incredible suffering of an Avatara is to be born on Earth, and that is what we know as the suffering of Buddha or the suffering of Christ. Because from that vast universal field, from that super-fine, finest relative, from that vast field, he has to concretize himself into this little body. Can you imagine the pain? So, the Avatara has to go through various gradations. From the finest level of relativity, he has to grossify, grossify, and grossify himself until he comes to this level. It is like going through a funnel, so vast at the top and so narrow at the end. And, having to be born through human beings, it has to acquire the characteristics of human beings. Therefore, you will find that the greatest Masters never start teaching until they reach a mature age. They never do. Because even the Avatara, coming to this small little limited level and passing through this vastness of the universe, going through all this dirt, has to come here and take a bath. That bath, removing that dirt, is an unfoldment of the Avatara himself. That is why he has to live like an ordinary person, gain the experiences of an ordinary person, to find himself. And after having fulfilled his experiences, he then realizes, “I am an Avatara.” Christ realized who he was only on the cross. Although he had experienced oneness with the Father, “My Father and I are one,” the final realization came on the cross, and then he understood what resurrection meant. The same applies to Mahavir, Buddha, and Krishna. So, in reality, man would take lifetimes upon lifetimes to realize the Divinity that is
“Who Am I?” — The Journey from Question to Realization
MAN IS AN ENQUIRING PERSON BY NATURE Man forever wants to know, and even if the mind does not ask it, there is an inward urge within him which always shouts out to answer one question, which is only one question: which I?’ That is the main question that is central to man, “Who am I?” This question can go through many superimpositions, and his search begins by enquiring into various facets, including science, arts, and whatever. This search could start outwardly. To find the answer to the question “Who am I?”, he begins searching outside of himself to get an answer. The modern scientist is no better than the primitive man, they only do it in a more sophisticated way. The primitive man used to search outside himself, creating gods for himself, cloud gods and rain gods that could answer questions for him. Religion started with this primitive man’s mind getting involved in various superstitions. The modern scientist’s mind gets involved in various dreams. The difference between superstition and dream is very fine. A superstition is also a projection, just as a dream is a projection. The difference here is that the superstitious primitive man believed in what he thought, while the scientist’s dream is devoid of belief until he can verify the dream. Man, by nature, is an enquiring person; he has to enquire, enquire, and enquire. He wants to know the causes of things. He wants to see why this flower grows. He wants to know why the wall stands upright and a million things of that nature. By understanding the causes of exterior things, he thinks he will be led somehow to find the cause of himself, and there again, the question comes, “Who am I?” MAN HAS TO USE HIS HEART AS WELL AS HIS MIND There is nothing wrong with enquiry. There is nothing wrong with the examination of the environment. Examining the grossest matter and enquiring into the subtlest atom is nothing terrible. If a man has that enquiring ability, has the sophisticated thinking mind to see deeply into things and tries to know the causes of things, he can be very helpful to the world if he uses his heart and mind. The modern trend is perhaps very destructive, as we have seen in many of the inventions that have been misused. But if the heart is expanded, if that love is infused in the knowledge the mind has gained, then all these enquiries and the answers could be used usefully for the benefit of all around us, but we see how the wealth of the world is so misused. They would spend billions and billions and billions in sending rockets to the moon, while here on this tiny planet, there are millions of people starving to death. That is misuse. Why do you want to know what is happening on the moon? Why do you want to reach the moon? You want to reach the moon and climb Mount Everest because it is a challenge. Fine. Let it be a challenge. Let it be a challenge and face the challenge, but not at the expense of a suffering humanity. The difference would be that the challenge is mental and neglecting suffering humanity, which in turn means neglecting the expansion of the heart. So, all progress that we regard to be progress is very, very imbalanced. There is no balance. WE WANT TO GO BEYOND KNOWLEDGE INTO THE REALM OF WISDOM Being a finite mind, it could never know everything because it is limited. Scientists, for example, have been enquiring into the atom and the more they enquire into the atom, they come to various other factors of the atom which are sub-atomic, and even reaching there, they still feel that there is still finer matter and the search will go on and on. The real cause and the essence of matter will never be found with the mind because the mind is relative and has relative abilities and capabilities. Knowledge is a word that has been so misunderstood. Knowledge is but an accumulation of various facts which can be obtained from any good encyclopaedia. I have someone in Cape Town, if I want to know about something, I do not look up the encyclopaedia, but I pick up the phone, and I call this young man, his name is Harish, and I say what do you know about this and immediately he will rattle off all facts and figures and dates and what have you. But then he comes to me, saying, “Guruji, I am like a donkey with a whole load of books on my back; despite a load of books, I am still a donkey.” What we want to do is to go beyond knowledge and into the realm of wisdom. That is something different from knowledge. As we know it, knowledge is an accumulation of facts by which we burden our little brains. But wisdom is a knowingness, and this knowingness that wells up from inside can never be subjected to half a dozen Ph.D. degrees. If that were so, then every University Professor of Philosophy would be a self-realised man, and he is not. He is even more mixed up studying all these various philosophies. After having studied every possible philosophy to become a Professor of Philosophy, he is increasingly confused, and he is in a position, in a far lower position, to answer the question, “Who am I?” “WHAT IS THE USE OF GAINING THE WHOLE WORLD AND YET LOSING YOUR SOUL?” So, all this means that the enquiry into the various aspects and facets of life must not be stopped because if a person has an intellectual tendency, that is his starting point. As he goes analysing multiple things, he will know that this is just not it; there is something more. There is something more. It is very seldom that those who are so knowledgeable and who have pride in their knowledge will
Unfolding the Spirit Through Meditation: The Journey to Inner Harmony and Universal Love
Ancient Sages, Awareness, Bible, Divine, Divinity, Eternity, Evolve, God, Guru, Happiness, Harmony, Heart, Integration, Joy, Kingdom of Heaven within, Law of opposites, Love, Love thy neighbour as thyself, Mantra, Meditation, Mind, Relative World, Religion, Self, Self-integration, Self-Realization, Spirit, Spiritual, Spiritual Practices, Strength, Unfoldment, Universe
HOW TO ACHIEVE HARMONY? THROUGH OUR SPIRITUAL PRACTICES, WE ACHIEVE HARMONY WITHIN OURSELVES Achieving self-realisation means that self-integration has to take place within ourselves. By self-integration, we could say that there are three aspects to every human being: the physical, the mental, and the spiritual. In today’s world, we find that these three aspects of man do not function harmoniously, and because they do not, people do not live very happy lives. The purpose of meditation is to achieve harmony within ourselves, and by completing this harmony through meditational practices, one can experience that integration within us. It is a gradual process, but it is very successful, as thousands of people worldwide have experienced now. The process of meditation is scientifically based. It has no religious background regarding dogmatic religion, but it is a scientific process that sages have discovered through direct perception and experience. The proper way to understand something is to experience something, and self-realisation is one aspect that every person can achieve because each man is born with Divinity within him, and each person is potentially divine. We have to find spiritual unfoldment and not spiritual development because the very nature of man is divine. To achieve this state, we do these practices to achieve harmony within ourselves where body, mind and the Spirit work together. In daily life, a person says something, thinks and does something else. Such a person could not be called an integrated person Self-integration and self-realisation could be synonymous, and self-realisation could also be synonymous with God-realisation because, through these scientific methods, we are diving deep within ourselves. By diving deep within ourselves, we are bringing all the Divinity and the strength from that deep-lying reservoir into our daily life, firstly through the subtle mind and then through the grosser body. So, this is the purpose of achieving self-integration, which is synonymous with self-realisation. THE REALM OF THE SPIRITUAL SELF OF MAN IS BEYOND BODY AND MIND The scientific background of this would be that everything in this universe is nothing but vibration, and vibration can exist in many different forms. Vibration can exist in a subtle form as well as in a grosser form. The analogy I usually use is of vapour, which is very fine and subtle. The same subtle vapour could become grosser in the form of water, which can still become grosser in ice. The only difference there would be that the ice would be composed of the same vibrations in the vapour but in a more compacted or congealed form. Wherever there is vibration, there has to be motion because vibration can never remain static; wherever there is motion, a sound is emitted. Our meditation practices are based upon sound, and a true guru can go into deep meditation and hear the sound of every particular object. Everything that he sees in that state of meditation, it could be this table, this glass, or anyone sitting here, these chairs emit a vibration, and that vibration is heard as a sound. This sound is taken, the sound is evaluated, and the sound is assessed. On that assessment and analysis, a practice is given that might take the form of a mantra. A mantra means a collection of syllables, a sound which can be used to dive deep within our minds. We all know that we only use ten per cent of the mind. Ninety percent of the human mind is dormant, and through these practices, we dive deeper and deeper into our minds and discover for ourselves. We penetrate for ourselves the deeper layers that, up to now, were dormant. That is not the only thing we do; we even go beyond the mind. We transcend the mind because the realm of the spiritual self of man is beyond body and mind. MAN CAN EXPERIENCE A MORE JOYOUS LIFE BY A COMBINATION OF THE MIND AND THE HEART As we go into the deeper layers of the mind, we will find that our minds find greater awareness and more excellent perception. You look at this flower now as it is standing there, and after a few months of meditation, you will see the same flower, but it will be seen in greater depth. This has been proven by all our meditators who meditate regularly as they are taught to meditate on whichever meditational practice is given to them according to their specific need. Like that, perception grows, but at the same time, as the perception grows, one begins to realise the deeper levels of existence of which we are a part, and one also expands one’s heart. So here is a simultaneous expansion of mind and heart, so the thinking power is enhanced, and the heart being expanded can feel more freely and fully. In the fullness and the combination of the mind and the heart, man can experience a more joyous life, and as he progresses, the joy increases day by day, leading to absolute and complete self-fulfilment. In the relative field of life, we will find a certain measure of fulfilment that the body and the mind could govern, and these pleasures could be, and most times, very momentary. The capacity to experience pleasure also leads one to have the capacity to experience pain; if you can see white, you will see black, too. There are laws of opposites which govern the entire relative field of existence. But, if a man is taught to go beyond the relative field of existence through meditational practices, he can operate or live this relative existence in totality. There would be totality in all his conceptions, in his perceptions, and practically in his actions in life. Thoughts are only on the mind level. What man has to achieve is to go beyond the limited level of thought because if man is essentially divine and Divinity is infinite, the finite mind can never fully comprehend the infinite. So, by exploring the deeper levels of the mind, he will be able
The Mark of the Unfolded Man: More Ordinary Than Ordinary
Attachment, Christ, Devotion, Divine, Divinity, Faith, Force, God, Grace, Guru, Happiness, Humility, Integration, Joy, Light, Love, Meditation, Mind, Peace, Philosophy, Relative World, Self, Separation, Spiritual, Spiritual Practices, Spirituality, Surrender, Unfoldment
THE MARK OF AN UNFOLDED MAN? SIGNS OF SPIRITUAL UNFOLDMENT Spiritual unfoldment has specific qualifications in our daily living life. The qualifications help us tackle the problems of daily living. The ability to turn what was previously un-joyous into joy is a sign of spiritual unfoldment. As we have discussed before, all unhappiness is produced by our worthless sense of attachment. We get so attached to various aspects and facets of life, which, as we said, is non-enduring. So as a man expands, as a man unfolds spiritually, he would seek the actual value not only within himself but also in the environment and finding the actual value within himself and in the environment, he will find it non-separate from himself. That is a sure sign of spiritual unfoldment. A spiritually unfolded man is more integrated, depending on how much unfoldment has occurred. There are no stumbling blocks to the spiritually unfolded man, only stepping stones. Those things which were stumbling blocks have now been turned into stepping stones, and by knowing that every experience in life is but a stepping stone to lead us up and ever onward, those are the marks of the aspirant, of the unfolding man. THE REAL SELF WITHIN US IS FOREVER UNFOLDED When we use the word unfoldment, we are not referring to the unfolded Self within us. The authentic Self within us is forever unfolded, encompassing everything tangible and intangible, animate and inanimate. But when we talk of spiritual unfoldment, we talk about removing the veils of attachments to unenduring values and recognising them for what they are worth. We are slowly, gradually and progressively going beyond all the shackles that tie us down to relativity. There is nothing wrong in being in relativity, but being tied down, bogged down, and weighted down are the things we are trying to uplift. So spiritual unfoldment is also spiritual upliftment. The light forever shines outside, and we try to draw the curtains. We are opening the curtains to shine light into our daily lives. All the philosophies in life are of no value whatsoever if they are not made practical. The spiritually unfolded man walks on a razor’s edge. He has to be even more careful in his daily living than the un-unfolded man. He has to be more cautious, vigilant, and alert so that he does not slip. THE UNFOLDED MAN MUST KNOW THE TRUE VALUE OF HUMILITY There is a story of a guru who had a chela. This chela had implicit faith in this guru, and the faith was so strong in him that by using the guru’s name, he could cross the river and walk on the water. This came to the notice of the guru, and the guru started thinking, “Oh, I am so powerful the I, I, I, that even my name takes the person walking across the water.” So, the guru thought that if the chela could do this with the power of my name, what else could I not do? So, one lovely frosty Friday morning, he thought, let me do it and sank as soon as he started walking across the river. He sank. What made him sink was the spiritual pride that he had gathered unto himself. He was a good man before then, but the pride that developed in him because of certain powers he could exercise brought him down and made him sink. We find this happening in various movements and with various so-called spiritual people. So, the unfolded man has to be humble. He must know the value of humility, where he can identify himself as a highly evolved human being and, at the same time, identify himself as the meanest worm crawling on the floor. IN HUMBLENESS, THE UNFOLDED PERSON CAN POUR FORTH GRACE This identification takes place because he has recognised that divinity exists. He has known the immanent God in everything around him, and by knowing that, he realises that his body and mind are nothing more than instruments. Recognising that the body and the mind are nothing more than instruments and that he plays in the power in the hands of a tremendous Divine force makes him feel insignificant. Yet, simultaneously, he knows the significance of Divinity because Divinity permeates every thought of his, every cell in his body. He knows that divinity can also be described as Grace, and being the instrument of that Grace, he can pour forth that Grace not in haughtiness but in humbleness. Those are the marks of the unfolded man. Otherwise, if he is not unfolded, he is packaged. Throw him in the sea. THERE IS NO SEPARATION WITH THE UNFOLDED MAN That is how the world works. That is how spirituality works. The unfolded man would have humility; with humility, there is a total sense of surrender. He becomes very ordinary. I have said before that the unfolded man becomes more ordinary than ordinary, which could be regarded as extraordinary. It is all so simple. It is all so simple. It is just these few virtues that have to be cultivated in man to find that unfoldment. It is not grown as a facade, as an outward show, but as a real living example of surrender, humility, and love. The unfolded man cries your tears and laughs your laughter because there is no separation. That is the unfolded man. DIVINE GRACE IS CLOSER TO US THAN WHAT WE THINK The unfolded man can stand apart from the world and all that befalls, all the strife and turmoil he might have to endure. Jesus went through a lot of suffering. We only know of the sufferings of Jesus, of the surface value, but do we see the inside of Jesus? Outwardly, he seemed to suffer; inwardly, he was at peace because he was one with divinity. He was one with the Father. In modern times, you can take the example of Ramakrishna, at the end of the 19th century; I would
The Freedom of Accepting Yourself: A Journey Back to The Diamond Within
WE HAVE TO LIVE AS HUMAN BEINGS We accept many things throughout life, and as the Serenity Prayer goes, “We try to change the things that we can, and we accept those things that cannot be changed.” In other words, it means looking at ourselves, our weaknesses, and our strengths and accepting them for who they are. Most people live in a projected world. They live with an idea of themselves, who they think they are, not who they are. The process would be that by self-examination, without any exterior aid, one could find what is lacking or overabundant, and by seeing that, we slowly come to understand and accept ourselves. I accept myself as a human being. That is very important to understand. As I accept myself as a human being, I would also know that there are other forces which make me a human being. For example, I have animal instincts in myself, and I have godly instincts in myself, too. So, accepting myself as a human being, I would also consider the other aspects within me. Animal instincts that are within me have to be disciplined if they cause harm to myself and others. So, with the principle of acceptance, discipline becomes very important; to live an undisciplined life is to live an animal life. Yet, you will find many animals so well disciplined within themselves because of a natural force that pushes them on. We say that they proceed instinctively, and by being pushed on by these various evolutionary natural forces, their instincts are permanently fitted to themselves. For example, if a tiger kills, it is his nature to kill. It is not wrong. But for a human being, it would be wrong to kill another. So, human beings are reverting to their animal instincts inherited from past lives and experiences. So, to accept oneself as a human being, one has to know what a human being is, which is very quickly known by a very brief study of the Scriptures that tells one of the various do’s and don’ts that make a person a human being. We have the instrument within us to discriminate against this. We have a thinking ability, and because of this thinking ability, if rightly used, we develop the discrimination to know that we are human beings. We have to live as human beings, and that human nature, which is the highest form of manifestation on this planet earth, the highest form of manifestation has to be lived accordingly. Only when we do not live according to our natures do we raise conflicts within ourselves and fail to accept ourselves. So, the first point would be that man strives to accept himself, and by accepting himself, he is in a position to be able to take everything else around him. His perspective changes, and that which seemed so horrible to him a little while ago will now appear more beautiful because he looks at it as a human, not an animal. So, discrimination has to be developed by oneself. WE HAVE TO ACCEPT OURSELVES, AND MEDITATION HELPS ONE TO DO THIS It is no use trying to analyse the mind to find discrimination. Analysis is not necessarily discrimination because all forms of analysis are biased, and all forms of analysis are patterned. Visit another country whose customs you do not understand with your analytical mind. You will find those customs entirely wrong because they do not fit in with your upbringing, learning, circumstances, and lifestyle. So, the analysis does not form any part of discrimination, yet it could be used as a tool if it is used objectively. But it plays a very minor part. Accurate discrimination comes only when one can be quiet and silent within oneself, which is what we teach. Then, a spontaneous thought arises within oneself, and that spontaneity would be of such power that we would be able to accept anything and everything first of ourselves. If I am lame, I accept that lameness. If I am blind, I accept that blindness, and I would not indulge in wishful thinking that I should not be blind. If I were not blind, I would be doing this, and I would be doing that. A fantasy world is conjured up, and most people live in this fantasy world. They do not live within themselves. Most people indulge in a form of daydreaming where they dream of things which they are not. They place themselves in a position in their minds of which they are incapable. So, the first thing one has to do, and meditation helps one to do this, is to accept oneself, and things which we regard as shortcomings are not shortcomings. I always say that if my milk turns sour, I will convert it into yoghurt. So, there are no shortcomings. Man is essentially divine, and once he realises that and accepts that as an affirmation to himself, I am Divine. Whatever shortcomings in me are also created or manifested by Divinity. Not every flower smells sweet. Some have a higher content of fragrance. Some have a lesser content of fragrance. So, if I have less fragrance, why should I not just be what I am? For I have been born as that particular flower with little fragrance, and I will not image myself or go into daydreams thinking of myself as a flower with an abundance of fragrance that will do something for this whole world when I cannot do something for myself. I cannot do something for myself because I fail to accept myself. The beggar walks in the street and daydreams that he is a King. How can he be that King? Yet he is a King, a King unto himself. For even if that beggar analyses his position, he will find that within himself, he is a King, a Master in his own right, even if it is in begging. WHATEVER I AM, I HAVE CREATED FOR MYSELF Like that,
The Missing Spirit: Why Churches Are Empty and How to Fill Them
HOW TO FILL THE CHURCHES? I have travelled six, seven, or eight months a year. I have visited churches, mosques, and temples and have been asked to speak there. Invariably, I found that the churches, synagogues, and mosques were becoming emptier and emptier and emptier. The younger generation today, for example, would rather go to a disco club than go to a church. It is not a matter of castigation or condemnation; it is an observation, and what can be done about it is that every person who goes to a theological seminary to become a priest should be put through certain practices to experience it themselves. If these Doctors of Divinity, as if Divinity requires doctoring, while studying are put through certain spiritual and meditational practices, they could gain that inner experience, feel that inner joy, that inner Divinity, and then when they speak from the pulpits you will find that people will gain something by it. It is not only words that are important, but also the spiritual force a spiritual leader can impart to people. That is important, and that is unfortunately very much lacking in Christian Churches, Hindu Temples, Moslem Mosques, and Jewish Synagogues. It is general, everywhere that is happening. So, if these priests had some experience, every word they spoke would contain so much power and force to pierce and open the hearts of the listeners. It is not condemnation or castigation. It is an observation, and what can we do about it because I would like to see our Churches and Temples and Mosques become more and more fuller. A TRUE MAN OF GOD CAN MAKE YOU FEEL SO MUCH BETTER Some good ones are very true. But the statement is not complex; it is observation and what is happening. To speak from the mind may have a specific value, but to speak from the Heart, from inside, has a far greater value. When we say Heart, I do not mean the organ, but I mean the very core of your personality, which is Divine itself, and this is where all our revelations have come from. When Sages have reached deep inside them and become one with the Kingdom of Heaven within, and when they speak from that level, every word is revealed as a revelation. There are good Priests, Pastors, Rabbis. There are some good ones, but the majority are just doing a job like a motor mechanic would do, an accountant would do, or a lawyer would do, just a job to make a living. Of course, our duty as church members is to provide the priests with a living. They also have to have bread to live, exist, and survive. As the saying goes, they cannot just live on love and fresh air; in return, spirituality should be given. A true man of God can make you feel so much better just by a touch, just by glancing into your eyes. Buddha used to teach by giving a sermon, but there came a time in Buddha’s life when he never said a word. He would just sit there, close his eyes and be in total silence, and the people that came to sit around him left the place feeling different. Some realisation dawned in their minds without Buddha even saying one word. That is the force and the power I am talking about. All the Priests, Pastors and Ministers cannot reach the stage of Buddha, perhaps, but if they have experienced something within themselves, at least they would be more qualified to teach. I believe in one thing: I will never talk of God if I have not known or experienced Him. For if I do, then I am a hypocrite. MEDITATION AND SPIRITUAL PRACTICES HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH RELIGION It is not a matter of being hard on anyone. It is a matter of how people’s lives can be transformed, how this world could become a better place to live, and how you can love your neighbour as yourself. I have seen, and I have heard some Ministers just wailing, “Oh, when is this damn sermon going to end?” I have seen that and had a long chat with this Minister. I said, you are just rushing through; do not do that. After I talked to him for about an hour, he was pretty convinced, and his whole style changed, and he started meditating. In fact, in Las Vegas, the year before last, I think they asked me to speak at a Unitarian Church there; I cannot remember the name. Two or three hundred people were in attendance, and after I finished the talk, the Priest came up to me and asked me, “Can you teach me to meditate.” I said yes, and we taught him to meditate. After that, he introduced meditation to his entire congregation. Meditation and spiritual practices have nothing to do with religion. You can believe whatever you like, like the little hymn we sing, “Some call Him by Christos, some Ishvara, some Allah.” Believe whatever you want because you cannot throw away the culture in which you were brought up. Meditation is a scientific way, a scientific method where you gradually go deeper and deeper within yourself. You find peace, and when you see that peace, your whole understanding of religion will change. THROUGH MEDITATION, YOUR AWARENESS WILL EXPAND After being a meditator for a little while and reading the same passage in the Bible that you read, say, five years ago, it will have a different meaning to you because your awareness has expanded. You can ask some of our old meditators that when they today again hear Satsangs of mine, which they listened to three years ago, they find something different in it. Same Satsang, exact words. Because through meditation, their awareness has expanded. This reminds me of a little boy who said, “My father knows nothing”. But when the boy of fourteen reaches the age of twenty-one, he says,