Words from the Master

Let me tell you a small story:

Three men were sitting abandoned on an island. They did not know for how many years they had been there.
Suddenly, they found a bottle and they picked it up.
They rubbed their hands over it, and suddenly a genie appeared before them. They were shocked.
The genie told them, “Thank you for freeing me from this bottle. Each of you may ask for a wish and I will grant it for you.”
They were very excited and they thought for a while.
The first man said, “I want to marry my girlfriend and live happily.”
The genie said, “Alright, your wish will come true.”
The first man disappeared from the island and the genie looked at the second man.
The second man said, “I want to become a wealthy businessman.”
The genie said, “Alright, your wish will be granted.”
The second man disappeared and the genie asked the third man what he wanted.
The third man said, “I am going to miss my two friends who have been with me all these years. I want to be with them.”
The genie said, “Alright,” and it disappeared, leaving the three men just as they were on the abandoned island.

(Laughter!)

Even after many years of misery on the island, the man was not ready for a new life! He had become so attached to the life on the island! This is what I mean when I say we are so fond of our worries! We claim that they give us misery but we are so attached to them. You will not be ready to believe if I tell you that you love your worries, but it is a fact.

People come to me and say, “My business is going from bad to worse, Swamiji! Last month I suffered heavy losses, and next month I know it’s going to be even worse.”
I ask them, “If you already know that, why don’t you close down your business right away? Why should you suffer?”
But they are shocked.
They ask in disbelief, “What are you saying, Swamiji? What will I do then?”
(Loud laughter!)

Without a reason to worry, your ego loses its reason for existence! That’s why you choose to remain in the dimension of misery. When you are in worry, you feel you are someone. You feel you are a solid entity because you are solving worries and thinking about them all the time.

Whereas, when you are free from this constant worrying, you are in bliss, but in this dimension you are nobody! There is no material to keep you occupied. There is nothing to solve. You feel insecure, like a non-entity. To enjoy a worry-less state, you need to first drop your ego about wanting to be a solid entity.

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