YOU ARE GOVERNED BY YOUR PAST EXPERIENCES
Thought, word, and action are interrelated because the thought brings about speech, and the speech brings about action, and vice versa. Because action could guide your speech, and action could guide your thoughts as well.
But what comes first? That is the question. It starts with a thought that originates only from your past experiences. Any recognition of any object or subject typically begins with an idea, which originates in your past karmas and your past samskaras, which influence your thinking processes. And by being influenced by past experiences, your thinking processes take a different turn altogether. Two people or, five people or ten people might view an object, yet their interpretation of the object will differ because of their past experiences. So, your past experiences govern you, and the whole idea is to clarify those past experiences.
Clarification means not being involved in the past experiences that govern your thoughts. Past experiences must be wiped out, bringing one to mental clarity. Because as I have said in so many lectures around the world, past experiences govern your life and do not give you the experience of this moment. So, you live in the past, and then that past is projected into the future, and the present is forgotten.
Even while listening to a holy man, your mind is floating elsewhere. You are thinking of the next dinner. You are thinking of what dress you are going to wear tomorrow. You are thinking of the kids at home, perhaps, if you have any, and you are thinking of things that are irrelevant now. Laura is thinking of the next painting she is going to do. Jeff is thinking of what lessons he will give to his art classes. Our six-foot-four friend sitting over there is thinking about what property he will sell next week. So, the mind gets divided, and the division produces conflicts. And that is how the mind works.
RIGHT THINKING, RIGHT ACTION
But to have the mind in total stillness, in total concentration, will lead you to greater contemplation, and contemplation is like pouring oil from one vessel into the other without any break. That constitutes contemplation.
So, the relation of thought with all its forces that might be can be a precious factor in a person’s life, and it can also be very disturbing or detrimental. There is only one way to get rid of this: to have the proper method of meditation, and a genuine spiritual master must personally prescribe that. Books can give you nothing. It is not only the practices given to you but also the spiritual force imparted to you by a genuine spiritual master that brings togetherness to the mind.
So, this is the background of your present thinking, and when your thinking becomes right through spiritual practices, your actions will become right. Your actions will become proper and pure without even thinking about it. It will be spontaneous; spontaneity is the secret of appropriate action, and you will know that your actions will always be right automatically. Then, you do not concentrate on action anymore. Because then no concentration is required, you act. You come to a fork in the road, and something within you will make you take the right turn instead of the wrong one.
So, proper thinking will make you more intuitive. You step away from the analytical mind to the intuitional mind, from the left to the right hemisphere, and the right hemisphere is connected to your spiritual self. That spiritual self is an inner voice, a little birdie that automatically takes you and makes your mind take you in the right direction.
ALL ACTIONS SHOULD BE A FLOW
Although you might be sitting quietly, your mind is speaking. Perhaps not vocally, but your mind is constantly chattering inside you. Through spiritual practices, you stop the chatter. For what does chatter matter? When we gain control of the chattering of the mind, our actions assume a different quality. A husband kisses his wife, or a boyfriend kisses the girlfriend, and vice versa. You cannot do it alone; it takes two to a tango. Where does the response come from? Where does the closeness come from? It only comes when the mind stops chattering. At that moment, in that close embrace, you do not think I am kissing my woman or man; it becomes a natural flow. And in that natural flow, you forget yourself, and she forgets herself, and then it becomes a flow, and in that flow, the two of you glow. That is the way action should be.
All actions in life should never be premeditated. Just let it flow. Does the river premeditate from the start to the middle to the end? It does not. It just flows, even over rocks, stones, boulders, and driftwood, and even over the pollution that most rivers contain. So, do not let life be polluted by wrong thinking, which produces wrong speech, which translates into wrong action.
KNOW OF THAT REAL JOY THAT LIES IN YOUR HEART
I am using these simple analogies to give you the philosophy of life, and when you understand these simple, open secrets, your life will become happier. And that is my duty. Why must I travel thousands and thousands of miles to come to speak to you? I would like to see people’s lives become more joyous. It is less pleasurable. Pleasure is nothing. You have pleasure today, and you will have pain tomorrow because one balances the other. But joy is something different.
So, the point is this: be full of joy, and it is not difficult at all. People regard the spiritual path as complex, but it is so easy. To find absolute joy in life is not to put your mind to it but to have no mind, as the Zen people say, to have no mind. Get rid of the chattering in the mind, and then you will feel the joy that wells up in your heart. Enjoy that joy, and when you enjoy it, and the mind is reawakened, it will transmute itself to the mind where cognition comes, and you feel anew. Know of that absolute joy that lies in your heart.
MENTAL FORCE IS A GREAT FORCE, BUT THE ONLY WAY TO USE IT IS TO OPEN UP THE HEART
To feel is OK. Feeling and having emotions are mental qualities. But, when you open up the heart and transmute the joyousness of the heart to the mind, then only will you have the feelings and the emotions of the joy that the heart has transmuted, and this is what is called cognition or recognising of that which is really in you.
Through your spiritual practices, you will develop awareness, making you appreciate life much more. It will. Even these leaves are shaking here through the power of mental force. Mental force is a great power, but we must train ourselves to use that mental force in its proper way. It is God’s gift; the only way to use the mental force properly is to open up the heart. The important thing to me is not the physical organ but the love that empowered it.
I AM HERE JUST BECAUSE OF LOVE
I am heartful, for I have realised the fullness of the heart or what it entails. What does your heart do for you? If your heart is full of love, that makes the whole universe turn, revolve, rotate, etc. So that is where and how far love can go. I am here just because of love, that is all. Love is the most significant impelling force that could be directed. Therefore, you need personalised spiritual practices that give you techniques and the Gurushakti, that force of love inspired and translated into Gurushakti, which improves every action of your life. So, so simple.
So, my beloveds, you understand that life is not only this flesh which will rot away and which termites feed upon when you get buried but there is that eternal force within you. Eternal. Remember that word and eternal force can bring practicality, day-to-day action, thoughts, and speech into your life. Never think of a hateful thought; try it; it is not difficult. Always think of a loving thought. Always try to use good, loving words accompanied by a lovely smile when it comes to speech. It takes more energy to frown than to smile. So why waste valuable energy? Instead, impart that power within you to others lovingly, and all your actions improve automatically.
If you want to be loved, then first, you become lovable. If you are adorable, automatically, you will be loved. Is there any person in this hall that would hate me? You cannot! Impossible! The secret is simple: it is because I love you all, everyone, and everything. Therefore, even these plants love me. Because they shake with me in agreement with what I say, that is the power of love, and love is God, and God is love. So, if you live lovingly, then you are living Godly. And Godliness will always go with goodness. And that is the action. Goodness, Godliness, which is none else than love itself.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1986 – 03
