Struggle with Laziness

 

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Struggle with Laziness

Discipline is a very general term because discipline can be good, and discipline can be bad. Discipline can be a pain in the neck and discipline can be enjoyable.

If we can turn discipline into an enjoyable thing, which means finding the reason why this discipline is going to help us improve or succeed, then discipline doesn’t become mechanical. Discipline becomes difficult when it becomes mechanical because the mind reacts by saying, ‘I don’t want this control. I don’t want this discipline. I just want to be free.’ The irony is that we are disciplining our mind so that ultimately it blasts and becomes free forever. So, if we understand this, then we won’t have a problem with discipline.

If we have a problem with discipline in our work place, then we ourselves have to work it out in an appropriate manner – depending on whether we are employees or business owners. Implementing discipline in the workplace requires intelligence along with compassion. We have to accept that office politics is a part of life and we have to deal with in the best manner we can.

However, with regards to meditation, we should consider discipline as something that is ultimately going to free us from all discipline whatsoever. If we don’t follow a discipline, we will still be stuck with some other discipline. It is inevitable in this world.    

When we really look into something with complete attention, that itself is a discipline. It’s not forced on us. That kind of discipline is essential.

That said, some may not rebel against such a discipline. When it comes to meditation, there are any number of different kinds of people on this earth, so we can’t have a hard and fast rule that says, ‘This is okay for everybody.’ It doesn’t work that way. We need to look at it on an individual basis and see what works. What suits one person need not suit another person.

That’s why it is difficult. If there were some common formulas then it would be a different matter, but there is no such common formula. In fact, one should be very suspicious of common formulas. There cannot be common formulas because each person is made differently.

Osho has written a book which details 112 meditation techniques and says that we should try all and adopt the one which is most suitable for us. 

But that is easier said than done; therefore, it is essential that when one wants to really progress on the spiritual path one should start praying for their spiritual Master to come into their life. Once that happens discipline will follow, as we start imbibing the Master's values.

True Prayer

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True Prayer

For most people, if we look at what their prayer is, it is: “God give me this, give me that, God save me.” What we are seeking in prayer is not God. We are seeking security and happiness. Ultimately, what we want with prayer is wellbeing, but we are not willing to admit it. The first step is to be straight and honest with ourselves. Then we can see how to cross the threshold of limitations to true wellbeing.

It is time we realised that looking to God will not help until we look at our own foolishness. If we sincerely look at our deepest motivation for religion, we will see we have never aspired for the Divine. Our aspiration was never for the ultimate. Our aspiration is for comfort, wealth, power and pleasure. But we think God is a tool to achieve all those things. When we seek protection or material things, greed and fear have become the basis of our prayer. This does not work.

Ordinarily, we think prayer is a means to reach God, but what do we really know about God? If we are truthful, we must admit we have no direct experience of God; we are coming from a particular belief system. Using prayer to reach a God we have no direct experience of, can be illusionary. Thoughts and prayer can open a person, but at the same time they can create hallucinations. Once hallucinations start growing, they take on such a big dimension because the illusory is always more powerful than reality. An illusion has the freedom of becoming anything it wants. The cinema is more powerful than real life. We can just exaggerate it the way we want it to. When the illusory process gets exaggerated, it becomes more powerful than life. So, prayer can not only be misused, but can also be deceptive.

We need to understand that it is not the prayer which makes the difference, it is being prayerful as a quality and not as an act which makes the difference. Becoming prayerful means that our whole being has become an offering. It is a process of offering our own self. Being prayerful is a deep connection with the Divine inherent in everything and everywhere. It is a quality, a state of being. As we become prayerful, it is extremely beautiful. But that state is reached only when we connect to our inner nature. Then, the experience is absolutely joyous.

When we are really joyous, we are wide open and can receive. Prayer no longer becomes a monologue, but a beautiful phenomenon and a celebration which brings great joy. Then, we pray not out of fear or greed, but because prayer itself is the reward.

Patanjali, considered the father of modern yoga, goes as far as to say that when one knows how to be truly prayerful, prayer is not a means to reach God, but God is only a means so that we can pray.

Fruit Bearing Trees

 

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Fruit Bearing Trees

In the south there is a common saying – a tree that bears fruit will be stoned! Just think about this – why will people throw stones at a tree? Most likely because they want the fruit! They long for the sweet taste of that fruit.

So, it is with spirituality – many people who evolve on this path find that they are being targeted, being made fun of, and so on. Why does this happen? This is simply because there is so much of negativity in such people, that even though they want to get rid of their negativity they know that they cannot do so by themselves. So, the only way is to attack Gurus so that their chitta comes on them, and they get washed with the Guru’s energy. Nothing happens to the Guru when he is stoned, but the person throwing the stone sees a change within him.

They will keep throwing stones. If somebody has to take a stone and throw it at us, it takes lot of effort. They are throwing it at us because we are of some value. We are a valuable target! Who would throw a stone at someone who is not worth anything? Unknowingly, unconsciously, people know the fruit is valuable. So, we have been stoned quite a bit. But over the years, many of those people have turned around. They are standing under the tree waiting for the fruit to fall into their mouth. That is always how it is.

Just because somebody is going to throw stones at us, should we remain without fruit in our life? That would be a tragedy. It is alright if people throw stones at us. Bearing fruit is more significant than being stoned. Bearing the fruit is what makes our life significant and worthwhile. Stones or no stones, what does it matter? They will only throw stones at us, but they will never cut us down because they want the fruit. Anybody who has known the value of the fruit, who has tasted its sweetness, they throw stones at us but they never think of cutting us down. If we had no fruit, most probably they would cut us down and make furniture out of us! So, it is better that they throw stones and eat the fruit.

Please see that when there is fruit and flower, it is not just stones that come our way. The bees will come, the birds will come, the animals will come and people will come. Once we have borne fruit, what is the use if nobody tastes our fruit? Let us say there is a mango tree. Little children came and they were looking for stones. When they looked for stones, if they found a lot of mangoes on the ground, they would pick them up and eat them. If their stomachs became full, they would not throw stones. Before they throw stones, if we start dropping our fruit willingly, stones can be minimized because everybody is waiting for the fruit.

Anxiety Amongst New People

 

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Anxiety Amongst New People

Some people find it very difficult to open up in front of new people – it could be a mental problem which makes people anxious in front of strangers or is it that we don’t fit into society. All kinds of thoughts bombard such people.

Yoga and meditation help us in becoming one with the universe. In our perception of life, we are different and the world is different, hence the conflict. So, it is such anxious people versus the universe. We versus the universe is a bad competition to get into. Do we think we have any chance of winning this competition? Don’t compete with the universe. 

This is why we found a way called yoga. Yoga or union means we must consciously obliterate the boundaries of our individuality, so there is no such thing as us and the universe – it feels like one. We need to do a little yoga, otherwise our mind will get twisted out with all kinds of ideas, emotions, and opinions. 

If we open it up a little bit, if we obliterate the boundaries of our individuality, it becomes very easy because when we sit here, we see the other person as a part of ourselves. We have no problem whether it is a man, woman, child, or an animal. We will communicate with everything absolutely because we have opened-up our boundaries. It is only when we have concretised our boundaries that we will always have a problem. If it is a man, there is one kind of problem. If it is a woman, there is another kind of problem. 

It is time we work upon bringing ourselves to ease – not only with other people, just with life. The life that we are living must be at ease. If we are not at ease, we will never realise our true potential.

There is a certain genius in every individual. But ninety-nine percent of the people live and die without ever opening-up the genius within themselves. If it has to open up, if the true potential within us has to open up, our life should come to ease. 

With ashtanga yoga culminating in meditation and a state of samadhi, we learn to handle our body, our mind, our emotions in a very dignified way. The fluctuation in our energy gets stabilised and we become calm and peaceful.

Once we reach this state we are at ease with ourselves and life in general – that is of utmost importance – otherwise we will not be able to experience life the way it is.

Economic and Inner Wellbeing

 

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Economic and Inner Wellbeing

After the covid era we are seeing how Bharat’s economy is growing dramatically and is well on the way to becoming the third largest economy in the world in just a few years from now.

With economic growth at the macro level, we see a phenomenal growth taking place at the micro level – individual financial security increases. As the financial situation changes, we must also be ready for very dramatic cultural changes in society. Along with financial freedom, the fundamentals of a particular culture always change. When every individual gets the choice to do whatever he wants to do, it is extremely important that we empower that individual with the necessary awareness to make the right choices. For most societies, a scourge of problems came along with economic affluence because the necessary awareness was missing in individual people to make the right choices.

Instead of economic progress bringing wellbeing to humanity, generally, one generation of that nation or society suffers from uncertainty, unable to make the right choices. The United States and some of the European countries for example are the most affluent country on the planet right now. During the 1930s, they went through a very bad depression where even food became a problem for the citizens. Then World War II came, and that was a great upheaval which took millions of people away. The generation after the war worked hard and got the country back on the rails. In the 1960s, economic upsurge was happening but that generation of people made all the wrong choices and for about 15-20 years, the volume of indulgence in drugs, alcohol and other things threw the society off track and almost derailed whole nations. Then again, from the 1970s to 1980s, they recovered.

The spiritual process is one way of ensuring that people have the necessary awareness to make the right choices. When affluence comes, they won’t lose their head. This is very important. Poverty is a horrible problem. But the moment they get out of it, a lot of people tend to lose their head and get into a different kind of problem. We would like to see that the economic upsurge that is happening in the nation is enjoyed by people because this is a starved population, starved for everything.

So, spreading this awareness and empowering people to be able to make the right kind of choices is extremely important. We need to really hasten this process as the economic upsurge is happening. We are talking about 9 to 10% growth in the coming years, which is phenomenal. Sustaining 9 to 10% growth continuously over a period of time is not a simple thing. But at the same time, we need to ask this fundamental question: 10% of how much? For 1.40 billion people, the volume of our economy is unfortunately very small. It is growing quickly today, but still in comparison with the top economies it is still very small.

Economic work is happening in a big way, it is moving in the right direction. But what has to happen in the country on the cultural, social and individual level, and consciousness-wise, has to happen at an equal pace, if not at a faster pace. If it doesn’t happen, good economics will bring more pain than wellbeing.

Activity and Spiritual Practice

 

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Activity and Spiritual Practice

To the casual observer this will appear to be a paradox – because it has been drilled into us that doing nothing is meditation. On the face of it this is true – but does it mean that? How can we live in this world by doing nothing? We have lived our entire life doing something or the other, achieving something or the other, going after career goals and so on.

When we embark on the spiritual path we learn to live in the moment – whatever we do in the moment is the only real thing – and that activity being in the present just makes our life calm and peaceful.

One should always do what one cares for, not do anything because so and so said so. If we do not do what we care for, we do not have to wait until the end of our life to check whether we have lived well or not – it is already a wasted life. If we think this work is important, we should do it.

As we progress spiritually, we realise that we are the most comfortable in our own company, we do not need anybody, nor is there any great urge to do anything in particular. We begin accepting life as it comes.

Activity should never be about ourselves. How we are is about us. Activity should be about the situations in which we exist. Unfortunately, for most human beings, their activity is about themselves. They do things in the world because they want to make something of themselves, which is the wrong approach. Most psychological ailments arise from this fundamental flaw, that people are doing something in the world to become something. First, be – then do. If we follow that, whatever happens, happens.

If we see the value of this work, if we think it must be done, we must do it. How and at what level is up to us. If everyone does their own thing to bring about transformation, it will only be for their satisfaction. If we really want to make a difference, we have to join forces as much as possible. But this activity is not about fulfilling our own self. We are fulfilled, so we do activity. Do something because it is needed, not because we want to do it. If it needs to be done, every responsible human being should stand up and do it. It is not some kind of mission that we are taking up. It is an expression of our humanity. And the beauty of this kind of activity is it also enhances us immensely.

When we do anything selflessly, that is getting done by universal consciousness through us. That is for the benefit of humanity and the energy which we get while doing such work needs to be experienced. This always keep us in bliss and in the moment.

Bharata that is India

 

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Bharata that is India

In the East, spirituality and religion were never an organised process. Organisation was only to the extent of making spirituality available to everyone – not for conquest. Essentially, religion is about the individual, it is not about God. Religion is about our own liberation. God is just one more stepping stone that we can use or skip towards our ultimate liberation. This culture recognises human wellbeing and freedom as of paramount importance versus the prominence of God, and hence the whole system of God-making evolved into the science of consecrating various types of energy forms and spaces. We find these in all our shakti peeths and ancient temples. Enter any of these premises, into the aura of these premises and we can feel a palpable difference in the energy.

The essential purpose of God is to create reverence in a person. What we are reverential towards is not important. Being reverential is what is important. If we make reverence the quality of our life, then we become far more receptive to life. Life will happen to us in bigger ways. There is so much misunderstanding about these things because there is a certain dialectical ethos to the culture where we want to express everything in a story or in a song. But in a way, this whole culture referred to as Hindu is rooted in the spiritual ethos of each individual working toward ultimate liberation as the fundamental goal in life.

If we explore mysticism in India, it is absolutely incredible and this has been possible because it does not come from a belief system. It happens as a scientific means to explore dimensions beyond the physical.

Bharat that is India, is not a study, but a phenomenon of possibilities, though it is a cauldron of multiple cultural, ethnic, religious, and linguistic soup. It is all held together by a single thread of seeking. The tremendous longing has been nurtured into the people of the land, the longing to be free. Free from the very process of life and death. India cannot be studied, at the least one must soak it in, or at best must dissolve. This is the only way. It cannot be studied, western analysis of India is too off the mark, as symptomatic analysis of Bharat will only lead to very grossly misunderstood conclusions of a nation that revels and thrives in a chaos that is organic and exuberant.

This most ancient of nations upon this earth is not built upon a set of principles or beliefs or ambitions of its citizenry. It is a nation of seekers, seeking not wealth or wellbeing, but liberation, not of the economic or political kind, but the ultimate liberation – moksha!

One must not forget that the basis of seeking is that One has realised that One does not know. One does not know the nature of One’s being. Instead of settling for a culturally convenient belief, for a whole populace to have the courage and commitment to seek the truth about themselves. 

This is the basis of this nation that is called Bharata. Bha meaning sensation, that is the basis of all experience and expression; Ra meaning Raga, the tune and texture of life; Ta meaning Tala, the rhythms of life, which involve both rhythms of the human system and nature.

The Science of Liberation

 

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The Science of Liberation

All methods of worship or religions as they are referred to, talk about love and humanity as the core of their values. Unfortunately, human beings subsequently became religious leaders and then that led to the use of religion as a tool for gaining power and control through the use of fear and war.

Everywhere in the world, whenever anyone spoke anything other than the existing organised religion of that time, the first thing that the people said was, ‘Kill’. In Europe, thousands of women were burnt at the stake simply because they showed other kinds of possibilities and capabilities that were not logically understood by people. So, they were labelled as witches and burnt at the stake. Persecution has always been the thing. Some of the famous ascetics that we know who were persecuted were Jesus Christ, Mansoor and Socrates. They were persecuted simply because they showed other kinds of capabilities which were not considered normal in those times.

So, wherever spirituality happened in the West, it always happened in secrecy. It always was individual or in small groups, never as a society. But in this culture, there has never been anything called persecution for spiritual people. At the most, they called one for debates and asked questions. Because the pursuit is truth, so people sat down and argued whether what they knew was true or what the other person knew was true. If his truth was more powerful than ours, we become a part of the other person. If our truth was more powerful than theirs, they would become a part of us. It is a very different kind of search. People were searching to know. They were not just believing and trying to prove that their belief was right.

There is no belief system to the Hindu way of life. Someone believes in God, someone else can choose not to believe in God. Everybody can have their own way of worship and way to liberation. If there are five people in a family, each one can worship the God of their choice, or not worship anything, and still be a good Hindu. So, we are a Hindu irrespective of what we believe or don't believe.

At the same time, there was a common line running through all these. In this culture, the only goal in human life is liberation or moksha. Liberation from the very process of life, from everything that we know as limitations or hurdles and to go beyond that. God is not held as the ultimate thing; God is seen as one of the stepping stones. This is a Godless but a devout nation in the sense that there is no concrete idea of God. When one says Godless, we need to understand that this is the only culture that has given humans the freedom not just to make a choice of Gods, but to create the sort of God that one can relate to. We can worship a rock, a cow, our mother – we can worship whatever we feel like – because this is a culture where we have always known that God is our making.

Everywhere else people believe, ‘God created us.’ Here we know we created God so we take total freedom to create whatever kind of God we can relate to. People worshipped whatever aspect of life they related to most, and that was perfectly fine.

Hinduism – A Way of Life

 

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Hinduism – A Way of Life

The term and concept of Hinduism was coined only in recent times. Otherwise, there was really no such thing. The word ‘Hindu’ essentially comes from the word Sindhu. Anyone who is born in the land of Sindhu is a Hindu. It is a cultural and geographic identity. It is like saying - “I am an Indian” but it is a more ancient identity than being an Indian. ‘Indian’ is only about seventy years old, but this is an identity that we have always lived with.

Being a Hindu does not mean having a particular belief system. Basically, the whole culture was oriented towards realising one’s full potential. Whatever we did in this culture was Hindu. There is no God or ideology that we can call as the Hindu way of life. We can be a Hindu irrespective of whether we worship a man-god or a woman-god, whether we worship a cow or a tree. If we don't worship anything we can still be a Hindu.

It is only recently and due to external influences that this geographical and cultural identity has attempted to transform itself into a religious identity called Hinduism. The attempt to organise it as a religion is still not successful because the Hindu way of life which is referred to as Sanatana Dharma or universal law is all-inclusive in nature and does not exclude anything. The Hindu way of life is not an organised belief system but a science of attaining liberation or moksha.

The conflicts in the world have always been projected as good versus bad, but really, the conflict is always one man’s belief versus another man’s belief. In the past, religion was far more important to people than it is now, but still there were no theocratic states in this culture; the ruler had his religion and the subjects had the freedom to follow theirs. There was no conflict because people did not look at religion as an organised process.

In India that is Bharat, we have always been traditionally taught to follow any path we feel will lead us to moksha. In the modern era this has been forgotten, but there are many spiritual Gurus who are slowly and steadily taking us back to our roots – the search for our own ‘self.’ That is the Sanatana way. It is a process of self-enquiry – Who am I? From where have I come? Where am I going? What is the connection between me and my Guru? What is the purpose of life? And so on…..the questions are unending and the true seeker looks for answers.

When the desire to ‘know’ becomes all powerful a realised Guru enters our lives and shows us the path. That is the ‘Hindu’ way of life. To find the ‘truth’ by any means possible. In reality, all roads lead to the same destination. Unfortunately, religious leaders want control and power over their subjects and use guilt and fear to keep them subjugated.

Sanatana Dharma teaches us to be free – free to follow our own path and find the God within. True peace only comes when we get out of duality and become one with the God within, merge with universal consciousness and reach our ultimate goal.

Dealing with Negative Opinions

 

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Dealing with Negative Opinions

People have their opinions about everything, but why should it matter to us or anyone? Their opinions will matter to us only when we are not very clear about what we are doing. Instead of trying to battle with others’ opinions, it is best that we strive to create clarity as to what we are doing and why we are doing it. If this clarity arrives within us, other people’s opinions will not matter.

People will always have opinions about us, and that is their right. As the great saint Akka Mahadevi said, “You built a house in the mountains and the jungle, but now you are afraid of the animals – you should not have been there. You built a home in the marketplace, and you are afraid of the noises of the marketplace – that is not the right place for you to be.” 

Now we are living in society, and we are afraid of what other people will say. This is part of social life. Somebody will always say something. Today it is magnified because of social media, but people have always had opinions. Today, attitudes have also changed and social media is used to target people, bordering on slander and defamation. If we cannot deal with this, then we will always be in trouble.

At one time, we had to battle just three or four people’s opinions. Today, we have to battle with five million because they are all out there expressing themselves. It’s perfectly fine. They can say whatever they want, but the most important thing is to bring an absolute sense of clarity into our lives as to what are we doing and why are we doing it. If this is clear to us, opinions will fly and opinions will change. 

When people approach us with some kind of gossip, just remember the three questions framed by Socrates. It’s a triple-filter test of usefulness of information. The first filter is ‘Truth.’ Are we absolutely sure that what we are about to say is true? If we are not sure, then it is better not to repeat it and pass it forward. Now that we are not sure whether the gossip is true or not, the second question arises – the second filter is goodness. Is the gossip that one is about to spread something good? If it is not good, which is usually the case, then why would we want to spread something that is not good?

When we are at the second filter – the reasoning is – why would one want to spread gossip which says something bad and which we don’t even know if it is true? The final filter is ‘usefulness.’ Is the information being provided useful or not. If it is not useful then what is the point in spreading gossip which is neither good nor useful nor true?

If we apply these three filters in our life, we will to a large extent save ourselves from negative opinions and negative information.

Living in an Ashram

Dandi Ashram - Sunrise

 

Living in an Ashram

We are always curious to know what it means to live in an ashram – specially the newcomers – it is important that they understand the importance of living in an ashram for their own spiritual growth.

What is the purpose of living in an ashram? Why does one move into an ashram space like any of our Samarpan ashrams, which is essentially for the spiritual process? What is the ingredient which makes it into that kind of a place? What is the significance and why be in such a place?

These are all spiritual places because the necessary energy has been invested in these places. Dandi ashram has the most phenomenal energy, because of the number of anushthans which have taken place over there. Kutch, Goa, Saurashtra, Ajmer, Mahudi, Bangalore and now Nagpur – all these places have a different kind of energy. The moment we enter inside the ashram we are washed with a cleansing energy; we feel the peace and serenity inside. Our mind suddenly becomes calm and quiet – why does all this happen? We should question ourselves while meditating in the Shree Guru Shakti Dham and try to get the answers from within. Each of us may get a different answer, depending on the state one is at that moment.

To be in the ashram means to be under the umbrella of this energy. What is the purpose of an energy like this when it is driving many people totally insane? We stay here, we can’t be here. If we leave this place, we cannot be anywhere else because the purpose of this energy is not to let us settle down.

The idea of creating an umbrella of this energy is to put our life on fast-forward track. People on the spiritual path are people of unquenchable discontent. It is being propagated that spirituality means contentment. Contentment means we are content with what we have. A spiritual person is one who is unwilling to settle for anything less than the Ultimate. If such a person is miserably discontent, he becomes ugly. If he is joyfully discontent, he is dynamic. Such a person has an evolving possibility all the time. Such a person won’t stay in one place. It doesn’t matter how much comfort it offers; he will not stay. It is a longing not to stop, not to find a nest of comfort, not to end up in a nook that is comfortable, but to get onto the boiling main stream and go.

When we start our spiritual practice everything starts happening, our past karmas start getting burnt in a fast-paced manner – it gets us into thinking – is this for me? Some people get disheartened and give up. Our joys, our miseries suddenly start sprouting and depending on our current state we become miserable our insanely joyous. Once we pass that phase, our karmas get extinguished and we start living life in the moment.

The ashram is a place which helps us live through this turmoil in its benevolent energy. Once we are at peace with ourselves, then we carry our ashram wherever we go. That is the ultimate goal – become your own ashram, carry that inner peace with you wherever you go.

Responsibility Towards Parents

 

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Responsibility Towards Parents

With more and more young people entering the world of spirituality – many face the conflict of looking after aging parents vis-à-vis their desire to attend various spiritual programmes/camps. Some of these camps last for 8-10 days, and hence the conflict. Can we leave our parents to their own means and grow spiritually?

Our parents sacrifice a lot so that their children get the best of everything – education, culture, emotional and financial security and so on. We don’t realise this as time flies and we grow up to become parents in our own right. The modern generations have everything readymade and even then, they are faced with the question of finding time for their parents.

If children cared so much, then they could have ensured that their parents remain occupied and busy, they should spend quality time with them now, as they did with us when we were growing up.

Different people achieve different kinds of lifestyles in their life depending upon where they are, their capabilities, circumstances, family situations – a variety of aspects. But all those things matter only to a certain point in your life. After that, the inner dimension is the most important thing. If our parents have not realised that by themselves, it is definitely the duty of the children to remind them. Do we not think we have a responsibility in that direction? In fact, in Indian culture, it is the children’s duty to give liberation (mukti) to the parents. Maybe it is not culturally alive in many places, but it is important.

Is it not the responsibility of any adult to remind their parents, “There is another dimension to your life which you must address”? It is not that they should not eat well or do other things, but is it not important that we remind them? It is very important. Otherwise, we are failing as their child in a serious way.

We should decide what we should do or not do. It is just that, whatever it is in our life, if we think it is precious for us – not for somebody else – if we think this needs to be done, we must do it today, not tomorrow because tomorrow never comes, both within and outside. Anything that we feel is very precious and valuable for us, it must be done today, not tomorrow.

Life After Retirement

 

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Life After Retirement

For most people, by the time they become slightly wise, life is more or less over for them. It takes a lifetime for them to experience what life really has to offer. The experience of life leaves most people wounded instead of wise. But if people with so much experience behind them could make their life’s experience into wisdom, their wisdom could be useful for the world in so many ways. We would like to make life after retirement very productive.

Different people retire at different stages but generally, there is such a thing called retirement because our body has reached a certain level of incapability. So, we bring our work down to a lower level simply because if we push it beyond that, we may ‘retire’ in a different way soon! That’s when for a lot of people, the question comes up: “What to do when we retire?”

Once we retire our focus should shift from economic and family worries to our inner growth. All of us have come with our expiry date – the physical body will support us only to a certain point, and no further. Once we pass a certain age, even though we feel we have taken care of our physical body, some things may happen which are totally beyond our control and the equation could change. We always hope and pray that doesn’t happen, but the possibility exists. Knowing the possibility is there, and doing the right thing so that it doesn't happen to us is the sensible thing to do.

So, this is the time to activate that aspect of our life which we have ignored all these years – that is the spiritual part of us. As our body ages, we start getting aches and pains, but if we focus on the inner, slowly we start losing our body consciousness and awaken our soul consciousness – the pains and aches remain, but we remain unaffected.

As we age, the body keeps sending us signals to take care of ourselves – if we ignore them then we face the consequences. If we listen to the signals and start a corrective course of action, start turning inwards under the guidance of a Satguru, we start becoming aware of the tremendous possibilities that lie within us.

When the time to die comes, we can go with a smile without any sense of loss because it is not a loss. If life happens, death is a natural process. Being afraid of a natural process is unnatural. This fear has come because of a certain sense of ignorance and unawareness. We are not in touch with reality and we have gotten deeply identified with this body. This has happened because we have not explored other dimensions.

Once our inner core starts becoming vibrant - old age doesn’t matter at all. Through meditation we learn that the soul is imperishable, we are not the physical body, and in time we merge with universal consciousness. Once this happens, we realise that the physical body is just a vehicle for the soul to attain supreme soul consciousness.

Fears and Insecurities

 

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Fears and Insecurities

All of us experience fears and insecurities during the course of our journey through life. Some more, some less and we always wonder how we can get rid of them. We don’t have to leave our fears and insecurities because they don’t really exist. We keep creating them unconsciously. If we don’t create them, they don’t really exist. So, then why do we create them and how should we stop creating them. The fundamental reason why fear arises in us is – one way of looking at it is – in this vast existence of which we don’t know the beginning or the end, we are just a little human being. Being the small entity that we are right now, naturally there is fear and insecurity about what will happen to us.

As long as we are identified as a physical body, as long as our experience of life is limited to our physical and mental faculties, fear and insecurity are inevitable. Different people may be at different levels of fear and insecurity. Today, if our life is happening well, we might have forgotten our insecurity. Tomorrow, if our life is turned upside down, we will be reminded because it is always within us. Only when a person begins to experience himself beyond the limitations of the physical body and mind, then this person can become free from insecurity and fear.

Experiencing ourselves beyond the physical is what we are referring to as spiritual. When we say spiritual, don’t think it is about going to a temple. If we look at our prayers, 95% of them are either about asking for protection or to be taken care of. There is nothing spiritual about it. It is plain, basic survival. In most people, the very basis of prayer is fear and insecurity. If prayer exists in our life as an act only, it is obscene. If we become prayerful, that’s wonderful, and if we are using an act of prayer towards becoming that quality, that’s fine. But if we are routing our survival through the heavens, that’s very stupid. Even worms and insects take care of their own survival.

When we say spiritual, we are talking about our beginning to experience that which is not physical. Once this spiritual dimension is alive, once we start experiencing ourselves beyond the limitations of the physical and the mental, only then there is no such thing as fear. Fear is just the creation of an overactive and out-of-control mind.

Involvement without Entanglement

 

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Involvement without Entanglement

When we talk of detachment as a major spiritual objective, there is another side to it – can there be life without involvement? If we observe closely – life is not possible without involvement.

Where there is no involvement, there is no possibility of life. When we are alive, why do we try to stay away from life? If this is so, then if we drop dead our objective will be fulfilled. This whole nonsense about detachment came up because people are afraid of entanglement. There is a possibility of entanglement only because we are identified with something that is not the self. Once we are identified with something that is not the self, anything we put our hand on gets stuck to us. Because of this experience, there is fear of involvement, and because of this, people are talking “detachment.” But if we avoid involvement, we will avoid life itself.

It is not about not wanting to get hurt. We try to stay away and detach ourselves from the world, and even from our siblings, spouse, children, because when we get attached there are expectations, then with this there is bound to be hurt.

That is also the fear of involvement. We think that if we are involved, we could get hurt. But in reality, we will not get hurt because we are involved – we will get hurt because we are entangled. It is the entanglement that causes pain and suffering, not the involvement. Because people cannot distinguish between involvement and entanglement, because they do not know how to draw a line between the two, a simple, basic solution seems to be detachment. But detachment is not a solution in life. It is a way of avoiding life.

If, in our experience, we clearly know our body sits here, our mind is there, and we are at a distance from both of them, if there is a distinct separation between us and our body, between us and our mind, would we get entangled with anything in life? Only because we are attached and entangled with our body, we get entangled with everybody. If we are not attached and entangled with our body, we will not get entangled with anybody. We can throw ourselves into anything. We can get totally involved with anyone without the fear of entanglement.

The way to do that will be to practice detached attachment – be involved in life but don’t get emotionally involved. Watch life, and respond appropriately, with love and kindness to whatever situation crops up.

Fear of Ghosts

 

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Fear of Ghosts

When we hear people talking about ghosts and see the fear writ large on their face – we wonder where this fear comes from! Especially of something which one has never seen! This only implies that one of the very important faculties in a human being is going out of control. Compared to other creatures, a human being has a very vivid sense of memory. We can remember every aspect of what happened yesterday. Because of this memory, we are able to understand how to handle today’s situations. This is what we are calling knowledge or information. What we understood, grasped, or experienced yesterday is today's knowledge.

This vivid sense of memory and an extraordinary sense of imagination are two aspects of the mind that set us apart from an earthworm, a grasshopper, and every other creature. But these are two aspects that most human beings are suffering.

So, all that is happening is that one is suffering one’s imagination. We are just watching a horror movie. Why not enjoy it? The problem is, it is badly directed. Our memory and imagination are out of control. The drama is just going on by itself.

People say, “This is human nature.” This is not human nature. This is the nature of people who have not taken charge of human nature. If we knew how to manage our psychological drama, we would have made ourselves blissful, not fearful. This is the essence of the Satguru’s work – to bring some sense to the drama so that we become directors of our own drama.

The ghost lies in the mind, by planting the seed of meditation in the sadhak, the Satguru over time exorcises the ghost. The mind is very fickle and unstable – it keeps gathering impressions over several births and those impressions remain as a sense of fear.

Once we overcome that sense of fear through Guru’s grace, life becomes simple and uncomplicated, filled with love and bliss.

Anxiety-free Relationships

 

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Anxiety-free Relationships

When we live in this world, there are various types of complex interactions which are happening. As our field of play increases, the complexity of interaction also goes on increasing. If we are just sitting in a cubicle working on our computer with only one other person, we need only a little understanding. If we are managing a thousand people, we need a vast understanding of everyone. Suppose we are managing a thousand people and we want all these people to understand us, we are not going to manage anything. We need to understand the limitations and capabilities of these thousand people and do what we can. Only then will we have the power to move the situation the way we want it to go. If we are waiting for these thousand people to understand us and act, it is a pipe dream. It is never going to happen.

When there is someone very important to us and thereby the relationship also has primacy – in such cases we expect better understanding from this person or persons. The closer the relationship is, the more effort we should make to understand them. It so happened, once there was a man who had been slipping in and out of a coma for several months, with his wife staying at his bedside night and day. When he came to, in those few moments of consciousness, he motioned for her to come closer. As she sat beside him, he said, “I’ve been thinking…you have been with me through all the bad times in my life. When I got fired, you were there to support me. When my business went down the tube, you were there working overtime and doing night shifts. When I got shot, you were by my side. When we lost the house in that legal clash, you were right there beside me. Now my health is failing, and you are still by my side. When I consider all this, I think you only bring me bad luck!”

This is exactly what we are doing to ourselves and to your relationships. Someone becomes closer and dearer to us only as we start understanding them better. If they understand us, they enjoy the closeness of the relationship. If we understand them better, we enjoy the closeness.

It is not that the other person is totally bereft of understanding. With our understanding we can create situations where the other person would be able to understand us better. If we are expecting the other to understand and comply with us all the time while we don’t understand the limitations, possibilities, needs and capabilities of that person, conflict is all that will happen. It is bound to happen.

Whether they are close relationships, professional, political, global or whatever, doesn’t one want to be the person who decides what happens in one’s life? If we do, we better include everything and everyone into our understanding. We should enhance our understanding to such a point that we can look beyond people’s madness also. There are very wonderful people around us, but once in a while they like to go crazy for a few minutes. If we don’t understand that, we will lose them. If we do, we know how to handle them.

Life is not always a straight line. We have to do many things to keep it going. If we forsake our understanding, our capability will be lost. Whether it is a question of personal relationships or professional management, in both places we need understanding. Otherwise, we won’t have fruitful relationships.

Being Straight with Oneself

 

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Being Straight with Oneself

When we talk about a spiritual process, we are not talking about jumping to conclusions and assuming things that we do not know. If we are straight enough to see, “What I know, I know. What I do not know, I do not know,” we are already spiritual aspirants. The fundamental aspect of spirituality is just this – “I am not so flaky in my head that I make up things. I am willing to come to terms. What I know, I know, what I do not know, I do not know.” Once we realise and accept this, the very nature of human intelligence is such that it cannot live with - “I do not know.” It wants to know. Once wanting to know comes, seeking will come. Once the seeking comes, finding a way could happen. That is why, once we are on the spiritual path, we are referred to as seekers.

But right now, it appears that the whole world is against this simple - “I do not know.” Nobody likes “I do not know.” Whatever we do not know we just believe. The reason why every human being on the planet is not a natural mystic is because we went out shopping too early. There is a story – Sharad Pillai got arrested and was brought to court. The judge asked “What happened? Why have you been brought here? What are the charges?” Sharad Pillai said “I just went Diwali shopping a little too early.” The judge said, “That’s not a crime, that’s being judicious. What do you mean too early? When did you go?” Sharad Pillai said, “I went before the shops opened.”

There are no readymade answers – we go shopping too early in the sense, before we can pronounce our name, we already know who god is, who his wife is, how many children he has, his address, birthday and so on…..we fill ourselves with a lot of useless information. If parents just instilled the value that what we know, we know, and what we don’t, we don’t; if that happens then everyone on this planet has the potential to be a seeker. We need to drop all the useless impressions we carry and nurture within ourselves, only then the possibility of encountering the divine opens up.

If we want to get somewhere, we must be in touch with reality. Otherwise, we will not get anywhere, we will just hallucinate that we know things. There is enough intellect in the world today to cultivate a certain level of awareness in people to see: what they know, they know and what they do not know, they do not know. This is a simple way to exist. 

If we cannot be straight with anyone in the world, that’s a social issue – it’s up to us. But if we want to progress spiritually, we should at least take one single step in our life – we should be absolutely straight with ourselves.