Words from the Master

Swamiji, once we are able to be without jealousy, have we completely gotten freedom in at least one aspect of our shortcomings?

Of course, if you are able to see a space where love can exist without passion or jealousy, you have definitely moved forward, but continue moving with complete awareness because you can very easily slip back into your old unconscious ways and find yourself going through all the old emotions once again.

Hold on to the newly discovered awareness and move with it. It can open up many more beautiful avenues for you to explore. Don’t stagnate. The greatest danger is to cling on to a few experiences thinking that they are solid.

Masters never allow their disciples to stagnate in any experience. They always prod them on further so that the disciple may look deeper and deeper in his quest. People who have had visions of Gods and Goddesses most often tend to stagnate in their spiritual journey. They feel there is nothing more to be seen and therefore stay right there holding on to that experience. This should never be allowed to happen.

You see, until you have reached the state of eternal bliss, you can hit the rock bottom at any time. So remember that and nurture your awareness continuously to take you to realms of deeper and deeper understanding.

Understand one thing: The work of a Master is so delicate. He has to handle each and every one of you with utmost care and delicateness. He has to see in which way each of you will grow and make you flower in that way. Each of you has been through so many lives and have accumulated so much of ignorance. He has to work through all that and wake you up.

And remember one thing:
Life offers plenty of solutions, but there is always something that fits you the best. The intelligence lies in finding that out. When you apply your own intelligence and find it out, you will enjoy the benefits of it. Whereas, if you start looking at others and start applying their solutions to yourself, you will lose track of where you stand.

A small story:

An old woman was going about dusting her old house in a remote village.
Suddenly the door opened and a young sales man walked in. He spoke excitedly when he saw the woman dusting.
He told her that he had many gadgets that would help her clean her house.
The old woman said, “But…”
The man interrupted her and pulled out a lot of rubbish from a bag and put it on the floor.
The old woman tried again, “But…”
The man told her to stand by and watch. He pulled out a device and explained, “You see this machine? It will clean any amount of dust in no time. It is so light in weight and therefore very easy for you to handle at this age. Let me demonstrate.”
The old lady tried, “But…”
The man interrupted, “Just show me the plug point.”
The lady finally said, “But… electricity hasn’t yet reached our village!”

(Loud laughter!)

In life, we need to be able to figure out what suits us the best! If we are clear about this, we will grow without a worry. But most of the time, we covet and apply others’ solutions to ourselves, and then feel unhappy.

If we are clear about where we stand and what we need, we will grow steadily. Even setbacks in this way of living will only be ones that teach us how to function more intelligently. In this way, you function with your own intelligence and so it becomes an experiential understanding.

When you simply follow another’s solution, there is nothing happening inside you; you are simply operating from your periphery. When nothing happens inside you, you cannot grow; remember that. When I say that you cannot grow, I mean you don’t evolve from within. Material benefits may come, but you remain dead inside.

Remember one thing: Only when you grow from within, you are really growing. Don’t get dangerously caught in the outer world races. See them as mere play and play them well. Material benefits are needed for survival. But all these should remain in the periphery. Your inner core should steadily grow. It is this that will guide you in your play outside.

When you learn to tap your own intelligence, you will see how irrelevant it becomes to be looking at another’s progress or activities. You will see the absurdity of the whole thing. As your intelligence grows, you will understand that each one has to run his own race and not against each other! The real race is towards discovering your infinite intelligence. Where is the scope for comparison to come in?

The process of discovering your infinite intelligence is what life is all about. That is why I always say: Life is the path and not any goal. As your intelligence grows, you will become more joyful and you will be able to play the game of life more effectively. So stop comparing and start discovering – the source of your real growth.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

Understand: Fear and love can never co-exist. If there is pure love in a relationship, there can never be fear. If there is fear, there can never be pure love. Be very clear: There is some vested interest in the relationship; there is some purpose, some objective, some expectation of security or greed or returns in the relationship. That is why fear sets in.

We look for security in every relationship. We need some security to settle down with comfortably. This is actually a kind of imprisonment that we enjoy. People talk of freedom, but I tell you: They are so afraid of it! They like only imprisonment. In the comfortable cushioning effect of imprisonment, they think they are free.

A small story:

A small girl asked her father one day, “Dad, what is the meaning of the word guaranteed?”
The father replied, “It means that something is made well and it will last for a long time.”
That night before going to sleep, the girl called out, “Good night guaranteed father!”

All of us look for security continuously in our lives. But we say that we are looking for freedom. If we are really looking for freedom, why are we looking for security? Why fear? As long as you have fear in you, you will look for security. Till then, you can only delude yourself by saying that you want freedom.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

Swamiji, we have read in many books that our mind is nothing but maya or illusion and that all our questions are only an illusion. Please can you tell us something about this?

(Swamiji laughs...) The famous question about maya asked one more time! See the first thing: Don’t confuse yourself with complicated reading. Second thing: Understand very clearly that there is nothing to be understood with the mind. The mystery of Life cannot be solved with your mind. You cannot know the purpose of your life with your mind. That is why they say that your mind is an illusion.

The first step to solving the mystery of our life is ‘dropping your mind’. If you allow your mind to play, you will continue to play, that’s all. Life after life, you will play. Your deep inner thirst will remain unquenched. Probably your seeker-ego will get fulfilled, but that is of no use. You become only more confused deep inside you.

Try to move your centre of operation from your mind to your heart or Being. If you operate with your mind as the centre, questions and more questions will follow. With questions, you cannot know. Only with awareness you can know.

If you operate with your heart, awareness and understanding will happen in you and then automatically your questions will start dissolving; Like how when the sun rises, the darkness simply disappears, when awareness happens in you, understanding will happen and your questions will dissolve.

You will start understanding things even before you come to the question! And like that the questions will dissolve. It is difficult to understand this, but once you get an experience of it, you will know exactly what I mean by awareness. Questions will disappear and understanding will continuously engulf you.

If you understand this much, you need not worry about maya or illusion. In addition to intellectual understanding from my words, Meditation can help you switch to this mode of awareness easily. We can talk for hours together about maya and illusion, but you will only get more confused.

Instead, it is worthwhile learning the solutions that will help us to live intelligently, that is enough. One thing I want to tell you - maya or illusion is everything that your mind projects, so that is why I say - simply drop your mind, that’s all.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

All great religions and world philosophies have arisen out of trying to answer one question: What happens after death?

In trying to answer this one question, different life solutions have taken root.

The cultures, which believe in a single life, with no concept of reincarnation, have poured all their energies into excelling in life. They have achieved the peak in terms of assimilation of information, gaining of knowledge and material comforts.
These cultures have given rise to Science. Science helps us live life at its optimum. Science helps us get the maximum out of this life.

The cultures, which believe in reincarnation, have turned the focus of their life inwards. Their search is different. They are not motivated to live life in a hurry, because Eternity is granted to them.

You can see the play of this concept clearly in the behaviour of the people. In India, if a programme is scheduled to start at 6 o’clock, you can be sure that it won’t start before 7.30! Because they have eternity before them!

Our whole mental set-up, the course of our lives, our society, our culture, our religion – everything is based on nothing but our idea of death. We try our best not to think about death – but death pervades every moment of our life!

When we understand the depths, the secrets and mystery of death, we understand the secrets of life. We need to solve death and see it as a mere continuity in a different form. Else, we will miss life itself.

If we understand that death is nothing but continuity in another form, we will not fear death. And when we stop fearing death, we will know to what extent we have been missing life.

We take life for granted, we live so superficially, we miss many aspects of life. Death will simply teach us to look into life with more awareness. Death is the greatest Guru ever.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

You can talk for years and years about Existence or God, and still not have any experience of it. Of course, your ego will be nice and solid because you feel that you know so much about God! But if you look in, there will be no solid experience. And because you have no solid experience, you keep getting caught with words, because if you stop talking, there is nothing left; there is no experience to enjoy!

Start feeling love towards Existence and you will experience God in all the small things that happen to you. Because all of you are here, I am talking so much to you. If you were not here, I will be continuing to talk to this banyan tree and all the plants! Every leaf here talks to me. That is the language of real love!

For years together, people have been telling you that you are an advanced species of animals. Be very clear: Even animals are not animals. Each and every atom on this earth is Divine, a part of Existence. If you understand this clearly, you will be able to start feeling for everything around you.

Your body does not need love but your Being needs it. Love is an adventure where you go into dissolution. When you are not, Love is. We don’t have the courage to ‘not be’ and so we hold on; we pull back from unconditional love.

Those who are ready to take the adventure into dissolution, into experiencing the Whole, are the brave ones. The ordinary love that you know is like fighting within four walls. You fight with complete security. Real love is like fighting in the cold on the open streets. The courageous ones will fight on the streets and win. When you fight within four walls, you are secure, but your life is as good as dead. You are like a living corpse. When you are ready to fight on the streets, you are full of life and alive.

Again understand, you need not have any fear of fighting in the open, if you fight knowing that you are fighting under the compassionate eyes of Existence; you need not fear. Because, even if you fall, you fall into its very lap! But you have to have the courage to stand up and fight. That is the step that you take on your side. The rest, Existence will take care.

This will happen if you are just…a little more than curious - to know the Truth. Mere curiosity is not enough. If you are just curious, you will come, flirt and get away. If you are more than curious, if there is a burning desire in you that surfaces at least once in a while, you can start knowing and experiencing the Truth. If you are merely curious, there will be no devotion or dedication. If there is a fire, there will be devotion and dedication. Dedication is what brings you here, again and again.

Try as you might to run away from me, you can’t! You might stay away from me for a few days, but the burning desire inside will draw you to me again and again. To discover true love, you have to have this intensity within you.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

In our yearly trip to the Himalayas, some of them complain about the hardships and unhygienic conditions. I have told people time and again that just being in the Himalayas is a blessing that not many people get and that they just have to enjoy that and leave the rest as trivia. Somehow, people immediately get perturbed and talk about these things.

On one such occasion, two of the younger devotees were telling me, “Swamiji these people are talking about the hardships and trying not to bother about it, but we can’t even see the hardships! We are just enjoying ourselves all the time!” This is what I mean when I say that when you are so happy unto yourselves, there is no such thing such as ‘my peace’ and ‘your peace’. Whatever it is, Is, that’s all. You are there, it is there and nothing is related. You simply move on in the same state of peace and bliss.

Complaining is worry-related because you are uneasy and caught up with words. If you just see the wandering mendicants in the Himalayas, with just a small water jug and two sets of clothing, you will know that you don’t really need anything more than what you have and therefore there is nothing to complain about.

Why do you complain? Actually, the people who complain are the ones who have been blessed with too many things; they don’t know what to do and so they complain! When you have enough and don’t have any major fight for survival, you will have the time to complain. When your survival is at stake, you will concentrate on your work and not complain, because if you start complaining, who will do your work?!

In the Himalayas, it is the survival of the fittest. You have to be alert and aware all the time. There will be landslides that may descend upon you at any time; suddenly snow will fall and cover up the familiar trails; food and other ration will be suddenly restricted due to non-availability, and what not.

Under such circumstances, you should watch the people there. They are such innocent, welcoming and warm people with not a care or complaint. There is a lot to learn from them. They don’t see anything amiss; they just live happily that’s all. They just re-arrange their activities in accordance with what’s happening around them. They don’t worry, they don’t complain.

Why don’t you just carry on with whatever is available and keep moving? People who have been born and brought up in India, when they go to America and come back, they complain about the conditions in India starting from the bathrooms to the roads to what not. It only shows that all your exposure has made you more finicky and complaining, instead of giving you more vastness and making you blossom the way you should.

When you understand deeply, you stop complaining. When you understand that you are not showered because you are worthy of it but because Existence simply showers on anyone and anything, you will stop complaining. You complain because you feel you are worthy of something and have not been given that.

Be very clear: No one is worthy or unworthy; no one is a saint or sinner. It is all in the understanding and moving in tune with nature that makes you a receiver of Existence and its gifts. It is always a deep understanding that gives you a shift in consciousness.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

A small story, which Ramakrishna used to say often:

Two brothers lived together.
The older brother decided to pursue business while the younger one went on to become a Sadhu.
After a few years, they met each other.
They asked each other what they had achieved in the past few years.
The older brother listed out all the material things that he had achieved in the outer world. He explained about his business and how much wealth he had accumulated. He then asked the younger brother what he had achieved.
The younger one simply took him to a river, crossed it seamlessly on foot and proudly declared, “This is what I have achieved.”
The older brother hired a boat and ferried to the other side of the river and said, “What? What takes two pence to achieve, you have achieved in so many years!”

People think that if they can do miracles in the outer world, they have become spiritual and powerful. No! Understand: Spirituality is not a game of miracles in the outer world. It is a game in the inner world - to change your personality to individuality - which is the greatest miracle! Changing personality to individuality is the greatest miracle.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

We always think, If I get married, my life will be settled. So let me work towards getting married.
If I have two children, my life will be fulfilled.
Once I retire, I’ll be peaceful.

It is the attitude - Now I’ll be serious, later I’ll be happy!

In the end, you will be happy neither now nor then. You will lose your capacity to be happy at any time.

Just live with simplicity, with spontaneity, with innocence.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

Now listen to this:

A man took his city friend to his farm.
He showed him around and later asked him, “You must have found it amazing to see so many sheep! Did you attempt to count them?”
The friend replied, “Oh yes, there were 300.”
The man was surprised and asked, “How did you manage to count them?”
The friend replied, “Oh, it was simple. I counted the number of legs and divided them by four.”

This is not intelligence! This is a way to show how we complicate simple things in life.

Next, coming to innocence: Children are the best way to understand innocence. They just speak out without any editing. They don’t calculate; they are so total in their behavior, never cunning or hypocritical. This is innocence.

But what do we do to them? We try our best to teach them how to edit their words, how to manipulate. We teach them to move from their heart to their mind so that their pure innocence becomes contaminated by the mind.

A small story:

One boy was told that a wealthy aunt was coming to his home that day and that he had to be in his best behavior.
The aunt arrived and a grand dinner was served for her.
The boy was watching her continuously throughout the dinner and finally asked, “Auntie, when are you going to do your trick?”
The lady asked, “What trick my dear?”
The boy replied, “My dad said that you drink like a fish!”

(Laughter!)

Children simply talk what they feel like. They express so freely. That is why they are so joyful to watch. That is why we all enjoy them. Their innocence attracts us. But we don’t understand this and we teach them to become cunning, to become manipulative. This is what we do continuously.

A small boy went up to her grandfather and asked, “Grandpa, can you really imitate a frog?”
The grandfather was surprised and asked, “Why do you ask?”
The child relied, “I heard my parents saying that when you croak, we will have a small fortune left for ourselves.”

(Laughter!)

We are being hypocrites all the time. We never express ourselves freely. We are thinking something and talking something else. We have become so ugly because of this. We have simply lost our innocence. Children are not hypocrites. They are so natural. They are beautiful because they express themselves freely.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

A Master is someone who can give you a new mental set-up, a rebirth. It is something which can be got by simply absorbing the presence of the Master. When the Master’s Energy floods you, your mental set-up changes, and you are reborn. You enter into a space that you never even knew existed.

When you are reborn in this fashion, you will be free from the grips of all worries, illnesses and other emotions. Even if any of these happen to you, you will be able to handle them with ease that you never knew before. You will be able to become an observer of everything that is happening to you and around you.

I was watching the television the other day in a hotel where our meditation program took place. On one Indian channel there was a duet going on from an old movie. On another Indian channel, there was another duet going on, from a new movie. I was telling my secretary that these two channels only showed that there has been no growth in man’s consciousness. He was shocked at my observation and agreed with me.

The same patterns get repeated again and again like five people kicking a ball around in a closed room. At least in the West, they go to extremes and explore things and come back. There is at least social intelligence in the West if not a growing consciousness. Familiar patterns can make our intelligence totally dead. Worries are nothing but familiar patterns stored in our minds, ready to impose themselves upon us again and again.

When I tell people these things, they tell me, “Swamiji, I understand what you are saying but I am not able to overcome it.” I tell you: Just allow my words to penetrate you and create a space in you; that is enough. This is where meditation can help. What I do in my meditation camps is, I give you the outer understanding and then work on it penetrating you through meditation.

But people tell me, “Swamiji, we have our work to do, bills to pay, deadlines to meet; how do we meditate then?” I answer them with a simple meditation technique: Whether you have time to pay your bills or to meet your deadlines or not, you surely have time to breathe? Else, you will not be alive! Now, you simply add awareness to your breathing, that’s all. Just watch your breath. That is the simplest and most powerful meditation you can do.

Every time you remember this technique, practice it. Soon, it will become a habit. When you infuse awareness into your breath, you will be in the present moment. Living in the present takes you to Bliss. The power of NOW is the straight way to Bliss. Simply add awareness to every inhalation and exhalation.

So to attain bliss, you don’t need any separate time. You need not take time off and go to any retreat or meditation camp. You can continue with your daily activity. With the increased awareness that you will be creating, your deadlines and other targets will get done much more efficiently.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

A small story:

In a Christian household, a girl was sitting at the dinner table with her mother.
Food was served at the table and she started eating her food without saying grace.
The mother was shocked and asked her how she could do such a thing.
The girl promptly replied, “There is nothing on this plate that I have not said thanks for at least once before.”

This is what I mean by the attitude of taking things for granted. It is saddening to see it taking root in young children.

One more small story:

A young girl asked her mother, “Mom, how many more days remaining for Christmas?”
The mother asked, “Why do you want to know?”
The girl replied, “I was just wondering whether it was time for me to start being a good girl.”

This is how we train children to think and behave. We teach them how to do transactions. We teach them that everything is nothing but a transaction. We don’t teach them to be spontaneous and flowing. We don’t teach them to live without a purpose. We make everything goal oriented for them. All these things are utterly nonsensical.

Because of all these things that have been done to them, you have to work hard in undoing them first. Be very clear: All that I am doing to you is only undoing. I am continuously undoing. Imagine the amount of doing that has been done to you! Over generations, people have been passing on their ideas to you. I have to first undo all that and then create a space in you for you to flower.

When I tell people to feel a continued sense of gratitude in them, they go and come back, and tell me, “Swamiji, these days I say thank you to the cab drivers and to the servants at home.” Be very clear - when gratitude becomes your Being, you will not even report these kinds of things.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

Yes…

Swamiji, although I know that You are my Master, I feel hesitant and scared in your presence.

(Swamiji laughs!) The very fact that you have come out with this statement means that you want to overcome this state of yours. You have decided to take the leap.

Let me explain: Your Being has clearly identified me; but your mind is fighting. If your Being has not identified me, you will not keep coming to me again and again. You face a lot of trouble at home for coming here, is it not? The easiest thing for you to do is, stay at home and do your work. That would have made your family happy, is it not?

Why is it that you again and again want to come to the ashram and see me? Why do you want to again and again face the arguments at home for having come to me? Is it not easier to just stay at home and make the others happy? The reason is, the pull that you feel, is at the Being level. It will not allow you to go back, once it has recognized me. Try as you might, you can’t escape!

Your Being now knows me. But your mind seems to be the hindrance. Remember: Always follow your heart. That’s exactly what you need to do here. When you follow your heart, you will reach me. When you follow your mind, you will keep missing me.

You are so afraid of losing yourself to me. That is the problem. Your ego comes under threat. You feel insecure about your very identity. You feel your identity is dissolving. You start wondering where you are heading without an identity for yourself. Your ego faces a grave crisis.

When this happens, like in all other situations in Life, the ego immediately demands its food and in this case, you are unable to fulfill it. So, you start doubting me! You start reasoning out your feelings in so many ways. You start working out that which is whole and cannot be worked out. Your mind sways like the elephant’s trunk - from one side of intense love for me to the other side of intense doubt of that love.

Remember, love is from your heart while fear is from your mind. Always, always, follow your heart. Love is natural; fear is societal. Fear and doubt are deeply related and are mere conditionings that have gone into you.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

It has been proven, that the consciousness of a scientist plays a major role in the experiment that he conducts. It has been observed that the same experiment when done in the same controlled environmental conditions produce different results when done by different scientists. They have clearly proven that our inner thoughts control our actions and the results of our actions.

I tell you now: ‘Ananda or Bliss attracts fortune’. This is a great Truth. When you are blissful, automatically, Existence showers and material wealth will start flowing towards you. Be with a sense of gratitude always. The rest will happen automatically.

Simply decide not to feel miserable about anything. If any worry or guilt or sad incident comes to your mind, just look at it and smile and say, “No, I am not going to be affected by you. What will you do?” Simply look at it and say this. Automatically the incident or guilt will not have any effect over you. By allowing it to attack you, are you going to gain anything? No! By looking at it and saying that you will not let it attack you, you are only avoiding misery. I am not saying to run away from it. I am asking you to look at it and say this. Understand this point clearly.

If you try to suppress these thoughts, they will keep lurking at the back of your mind and they will threaten to come back at any time. Allow them to surface. But just look at them and tell them that they are powerless; you will see that they automatically disappear. They will think that it is not worth haunting you and they will simply disappear!

Always remember: Anything that gives you strength through your body, mind or spirit is spirituality and will automatically take you towards Bliss. Anything that weakens you is not spirituality and therefore just don’t pursue it. This is the thumb rule to be followed. Never forget that Bliss is your true nature.

And one more thing: Anything beautiful that you see, experience it instead of just typecasting it with your patterns and being a cold spectator. Have you seen the sunrise and sunset in the ashram or anywhere else in your place? Have you ever stood and watched the beautiful transformation of colours and rays of light spreading across the sky? Most of us either don’t know that the sun is setting or we simply say, “Yes, the sun is setting; so what; it sets everyday anyway.”

I tell you: Knowledge simply mars your innocence and makes life dull for you. When you see the sunset or sunrise, it can be such a beautiful meditation for you. Instead of looking at it with your mundane knowledge, if you become a part of it and merge with it, you will see that you are a speck of this tremendous Existence that is celebrating. You will then participate spontaneously in the celebration.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

Another small story:

A mother was leaving her child with her friend for a day.
She told her child to remember to thank the friend before coming away that evening.
The child returned home that evening and the mother asked her if she thanked the friend.
The child replied, “I didn’t because when the other girl thanked her, she said, ‘don’t mention it’.”

This is how children are! Of course, it is our duty to teach them basic things like gratitude etc., but I am trying to make you understand that we should not make children hypocrites. Let them understand the game and play it with awareness, with no ego, but only awareness. Give them the basic rules and intelligence to discriminate for themselves.

One thing: The innocence of the child is due to its ignorance. This innocence is bound to be there in the child because it is yet to be influenced by societal conditioning. But once the conditioning starts happening and knowledge is gained, the child loses its innocence. But the child can reconnect back with the innocence that it loses over the years through deep awareness. This innocence regained is the real innocence, because this innocence is not out of ignorance now, it is out of a deep understanding.

That is the difference between the innocence of children and innocence of Masters. Mundane knowledge squashes the innocence and nurtures ego. But intelligence and awareness can put knowledge aside and bring out the innocence once again. When this happens, you have found the way.
Yes…?

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

Understand very clearly: There is nothing wrong in doubting. Doubt is your torch to enlightenment. It is very difficult for your mind to proceed without doubts. But your doubts should be ultimately transformed to trust. Only then you are progressing. As you move inwards, this will happen. Yes…?

What do we need to do Swamiji?

Just fall totally in love, that’s all! Falling totally in love is falling totally into the egoless state. That is why, a Master - who is in the egoless state, is capable of only love and compassion. All other emotions like anger, irritation etc. are pseudo manifestations of his infinite love. He pretends to be angry and irritated. He comes down to your level, emotes at your level, and takes you through one more phase of understanding, that’s all. He talks in your language until you understand his language - the language of Existence! Yes?

______________________
This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

One more small story:

One man came home from work one day to find his wife in a terrible mood.
She screamed to him, “I finally managed to train up the maid to do all the work in the house and she has now quit!”
The man asked sympathetically, “For what reason, dear?”
She replied, “Well, you are the reason! She claims that you spoke so rudely to her over the telephone that she felt she needed to guard her self-respect and therefore quit.”
The man was baffled and blurted, “But I thought I was talking to you!”

(Laughter!)

We always take relationships for granted and get into complications because of that. Learn to treat every individual as a part of the Whole and feel gratitude towards him or her; then you will never take anyone for granted. You will then worship and respect everyone for being a part of Existence.

When you don’t take things for granted, you will count your blessings. If you sit and analyse, you will realize that we always count what we have not received! However much we are showered, we are not happy because we are thinking about the things that have not yet reached us!

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

The next chakra is the Ajna chakra which is located between the eyebrows.

In Sanskrit, Ajna means ‘will’ or ‘order’. The Ajna chakra is known as the Master Chakra.

This chakra is locked by seriousness and ego and it can be made to flower by innocence, simplicity and intelligence, and by shedding all forms of ego.

(Meditation Technique: Divya Netra Meditation - a Zoroastrian meditation technique.)

The Ajna chakra is known as the Chakra Raj – the Master of all the chakras.

This is such a significant chakra that there is no religion that has not worked on activating it. When the Ajna opens, the whole Being enters into a different realm. A whole layer of faculties opens up. That is why all the oriental gods are represented with a third eye in their forehead. The third eye is a symbol for the awakened Ajna.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

A total commitment and determination is needed and this will come automatically to you when you are ready; when you are ready to drop your mind - that is society, and live with your heart; when you are ready to stop pointing fingers at others and point to yourself, come what may; when you understand experientially that your mind is societal and your heart is natural.

And one more thing: When people ask you for proof of your experiences, just understand that there is no need to prove to them. Your experiences are so intimate and personal to you that you will not be able to effectively share it with the other person. In fact if you share it, you will be bringing down the whole experience. Also, the other person may not be willing to believe what you are saying. They may tell you that you are deluding yourself. They may want you to explain the whole thing logically.

Logic cannot explain these experiences. God is beyond logic. If logic can explain God, then logic has to be superior to God but that is not the case; so just relax and allow the experiences to happen to you. When anyone questions you, have the maturity to smile and move on. A smile can convey more effectively what you can’t in so many words.

Great enlightened Masters have experienced such tremendous joy in communion with Existence. People ask me to narrate my experiences. But I tell you, it is all so personal and intimate that I cannot explain it to you in words. I can guide you, I can show you the way, the path for you to experience. The moment I start explaining, it will become mundane.

But one thing: I can give you the highest assurance that you will experience, if you have the fire within you. The promise given by a Master is enough energy for you to achieve.

Just understand that the joy you experience has no reason. People are bound to think that you are mad when they see you joyful without a reason. They know only cause and effect relationships even in the context of joy. According to them, only an outside cause can cause joy inside you.

I am telling you all these things now in reply to your question about meditation and spirituality. You may think that we are moving away from the main subject. No! This chakra, this Vishuddhi chakra is all about expanding yourself; about discovering your own unique Self, with total awareness and understanding of the fact that there is no scope for comparison and jealousy in life. Just take in whatever I have told you and allow the energy behind it to transform you. I tell you, miracles can happen inside you! It will change the whole quality of your Being.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

Like morality, prestige also gives rise to fear; prestige, name and fame, social status – all these give rise to fear. These fears are nothing but fears of your ego. What prestige are you trying to cover? Just live with inner fulfillment and dignity, that is enough. The people who guard their prestige are the greatest hypocrites on planet Earth.

They are also the people who live in constant fear. Their so-called prestige is so much in control of them.

A small story:

One man was fishing in the river one day.
He was sitting for a long time without being able to catch any fish.
He dozed off with the fishing rod in his hand.
Suddenly, a heavy fish caught the bait and tugged at it.
The man just tumbled into the water before he could wake up.
A boy was watching this from a distance. He asked his father, “Dad, was he catching the fish or was the fish catching him?”

With prestige, you have to be very careful. When prestige becomes larger than life for you, it will start consuming you. It will simply consume you, that’s all. You no more need to go in search of it.

And why are you afraid of losing your prestige? Because your prestige makes you feel that you are extra-ordinary. Your prestige gives you a solid identity in society. People with money and prestige do all sorts of nonsensical and immoral things and get away with it. People talk about them behind their backs and greet them on their faces because of their power and prestige.

This is the kind of prestige they are trying to guard so carefully. Let me tell you one thing: Existence will never choose you if you are like this. In the material world, you may get what you want, you may appear successful, but in the eyes of Existence, you will remain poor. Existence has its own ways of choosing.

Understand that prestige, name, fame and power are all your own imagination. You give life to them; you create them and develop a fear about losing them.

Just live with infinite love for everyone and everything around you. Feel deep love for anyone and anything that comes your way. If you live this way, automatically prestige will come to you. People will respect you for your quality and not for your quantity. And with this kind of prestige, there is no fear of losing it; you don’t have to guard it all the time; you are simply liberated from such fears.

Even things like fear of public speaking etc. are fear of losing one’s prestige in a way. When you are afraid of talking in front of a gathering, you are actually afraid of what they might say about you. You are afraid that your ego might suffer because of something that they might say about you. This is a passive form of guarding your ego. Fear is very much a manifestation of ego. Understand that.

So what if people don’t approve of your talk? You talk with a sense of totality, that is enough. Just enjoy yourself and do it; don’t bother about what others will say about it. The moment you are afraid of what others will say, you are guarding your ego.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.

Words from the Master

We all continue to do things for getting praise and approval, but we do it in the name of love and duty. People tell me, “Swamiji, we don’t do things for praise or approval; we do because it is our duty.”

Be very clear: The moment you claim that you are doing your duty, you are doing it because if you don’t do it, your people will stop approving you. Your people will approve of you as long as you fulfill every small thing that is expected of you. Even one small slip in what you are doing, you will be able to see the change in their relationship with you. You know this and so you do your duty.

You will say, “Swamiji, I am their father. If I don’t provide for them, who will?” See, try to understand: I am not saying that you should not provide for them. You have given birth to them; you have to provide for them till such time they become independent and do things for themselves. But what you are doing, do out of no expectation whatsoever. Let it be an act, which is an expression of the loving Energy inside you.

Right now, you might claim that you are not doing it out of any expectation, but when reciprocity from the other side dips a little, you will know; you will be able to observe the tension in you, the agitation in you, the disappointment in you. This agitation, this tension, this disappointment is the result of the expectation that was inside you when you did your duty. The degree of these may vary with each person, but it is bound to be there at some level.

And when it is there, you are not doing it out of just an expression of the loving Energy in you; you are doing it out of a lesser, limited quality called duty or so-called love. It is not an expression of the Existential Energy in you; it is a mere outer world transaction, that’s all.

The Bhagwad Gita beautifully says:
Karmanyevaadhikaarasye maa phaleshu kadaachanah
It means, Your job is only to do the work, not to be concerned about the result.

You need to keep doing things because you have so much of loving Energy inside you. You can just exude Energy without any reason or any expectation. When you are like this, you are not bothered about the results.

When I say you are not bothered about the results, I don’t mean that out of a frustrated or cynical conclusion, you are not bothered. What I mean is, you don’t even know to expect results because you are continuously moving and expressing your blissful inner Energy, that’s all. So we can’t even say that you don’t expect results. You are just flowing joyfully, that’s all. This flowing Energy is real love.

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This excerpt has been taken from the book: Guaranteed Solutions.