Words from the Master

At fourteen, the child attains physical maturity. Naturally, social laws don’t allow them to have the same intimacy as earlier with the parent of the opposite sex and also, their activities become diversified and they don’t spend as much time with their parents.

So at 14, the search continues, but this time in the outer world. These days it is happening much earlier than 14. These days, children are exposed to the television and internet from a very young age. That’s why they grow up faster mentally. It’s not a healthy sign. Anyhow, at about 14 years of age, the search begins in the outside world.

The child now begins to collect images from outsiders and media. The media is perfectly aware of this. That is why you will see that all advertisements always have sexual undertones – an attractive woman or man will be modeling for the product, even if the product has nothing to do with them.

Almost all motorbike ads show women – and how many women ride motorbikes?! Whatever the product may be, you will find a smiling woman recommending it. And when you go to the market, you promptly pick up that product – forgetting that the woman does not come with it! Even a simple ‘Pure Magic cookies’ advertisement shows only women! This is the media’s way of cashing in on your suppressed desires.

All forms of media are nothing but dream sellers. We collect all these dreams and keep running through them in our minds hoping to quench our thirst. Is it possible? Can your thirst for water be quenched by consuming salt? No! If you do this, your thirst will only increase, is it not?

If you are alert and aware, advertisement hoardings can never fool you. Of course, by seeing them, you can always be aware of the latest things in the market, no doubt, but they will not deceive you.

You will not be vulnerable to them. You will be able to see them objectively and leave it at that. You will not feel an instant and unconscious pull towards them. It is only when you allow your ‘reactive’ mind to be your deciding authority, you are in trouble. You need to dissolve the reactive mind and function with your intelligence so that you are with awareness all the time. Of course, meditation will help a lot in achieving this.

And you see, while on one side, the media feeds your imagination, on the other, society tries to suppress you. The more society tries to suppress your imagination and desires, the more they grow, because society aims at suppressing the symptoms without getting down to the root cause. When you just cut off the branches of a tree and leave its roots as they are, what happens? The tree grows in a more flourishing manner, that’s all!

Anyhow, during these years, we collect ideas from all sorts of media and build up an image of the perfect woman or man. From each person, we collect the best nose, the best eyes, the best personality, and create our own ‘ideal person’. We follow a cut and paste method! In your computers, you cut and paste all the time, is it not?!

This stage lasts for around 7 years, till we are 20 or 21. By then the identification with media wears off – but the ideas are already deep-rooted in our minds. Then a fresh search begins – to find that ideal person in our real life. This is the search with the idea of how our ‘would-be’ ‘should-be’. This is where the expectations start.

For the next 7 years, this search continues. Person after person we try out, and get disappointed. A few intelligent people figure out after a while that dreams cannot become reality. Only because dreams cannot become a reality, they are called dreams! But most of the people keep searching.

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