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

Again and again, scan your mind and see what it is that gives you joy. Then, start following it. Once something inside you tells you that you are moving towards a sense of permanent joy in you, once you find conviction in yourself, re-position and adjust the matters concerning your life, orienting them towards this bliss. Every action or thought of yours should be towards feeling this bliss. Energy spent will then be energy gained. You will be always energetic.

Some people say that they want to be left peaceful without worries. The peace they are talking about is not a living peace; it is a dead peace. It is a lifeless and dormant peace as a result of not knowing how to handle the various emotions in life. It is a peace that they crave for because life is too much for them to handle. It is like saying ‘sour grapes’ and moving away.

Real peace is something that is in you all the time irrespective of what is going on outside; you are simply happy unto yourself; you simply look at anyone and anything like a passing breeze that kisses you and goes by. Whatever may be the person or thing, your peace remains with you. People or circumstances do not alter it in any fashion.

Peace is nothing but the bliss that is felt inside yourself. When peace is born out of bliss, it keeps you and others in a peaceful state. Once you have found this peace within yourself, you will never say things like, “Leave me in peace, I want to be in peace” etc. The moment you say these things, it means that you are trying to be peaceful at others’ mercy, which is not peace at all.

Peace is a solid center that develops within you that keeps you happy unto yourself always. Anything that happens outside will be just another incident that’s all. You will not even relate it with your peace. The moment you relate an incident with your peace be very clear, real peace has not happened in you.

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

Words from the Master

Of course, there is no proof that Existence is taking care of us. Certain things cannot be proved. Can you prove that this direction is East? No! Can you prove the phenomenon of sunrise and sunset? No! You can only experience it. Because you cannot prove it, can you disprove it? Can you prevent the sun through science from setting and rising everyday?

Understand: Existence is the only thing beyond logic. If you can prove Existence with logic, it means logic is greater than Existence, and this can never be!

One man asked me, “Swamiji, should I become a Hindu to become spiritual?” I was shocked at the question! I told him that he does not have to become a Hindu. See, be very clear: Anything that curbs your field of perception is clearly not related to spirituality. Spirituality is always all encompassing.

Drop all your notions of ‘I am this’ and ‘I am that’. Keep your life open. This is the basis for spirituality. It is like this: A person who stays continuously in a locked room will not know about the open air and breeze. He will be having such clannish thoughts. The moment you impose these kind of restrictions upon yourself, you will not know about the infinite love and compassion that lies within you. You will only worry and complain. You will not blossom.

Buddha was once asked what kind of hell is given to people who are not compassionate. He replied, “You cannot put them in hell because they are already in hell!” Only when you are in hell, you will create hell for others, because only what you have, you can give.

A small story:

A mother and a son were having a heated argument and she asked him, “Do you have any brains?”
The son laughed.
The mother asked him why he was laughing.
The boy replied, “Only when you don’t have something, you ask others for it!”

(Laughter!)

When we are not peaceful ourselves, we disturb the peace of others.

We should work with our mind again and again to see what it is that gives us joy or bliss. Be very clear, happiness is different from bliss. Bliss is a beautiful and intense feeling inside you that makes you feel that you are in a different plane of existence. Happiness or just pleasure are most often related to outer world objects and create pain continuously for us.

Happiness is relative while bliss is absolute. Bliss is something that has no opposite. When you are in happiness, sadness is just around the corner. When there is a lot of pleasure, you are on the anvil of pain. But when you are in bliss, you simply are and there is no opposite to it. Happiness and pleasure are like pendulums that are bound to sway and reach the other end before coming back. But Bliss is not a pendulum; it is beyond duality; it never sways. It just IS.

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

Words from the Master

But we are dulled by our so-called knowledge, which is nothing but again a collection of words and another cause for inner chatter and worry. We have collected so many words and we live with these words and therefore nothing surprises us. Even if God comes to you and says that he is God, you will say, “So what?” Everything is taken for granted because of your knowledge.

The whole of Existence is taken for granted because of your so-called knowledge. You miss the whole of Existence in this fashion. You run behind worldly things that give you only more and more greed, worry and fear. These things only disconnect you further from your inner core; they make you look outside instead of inside; they make you totally dependent on outer world things instead of your own inner strength; they make you sway between depression and joy alternately, instead of being centered upon a permanent bliss.

You feel that everything is happening outside and that you have to run to catch it before it is too late. That is why you are always in a hurry, always chattering inside yourself. That is why you are in a rat race. That is why you are always in the future and never in the present.

Knowledge is simply data, facts, statistics; it is simply dead. Collect knowledge, but don’t let it control you in any way. Learn to keep it aside and look at life with awe. The mind always tries to conclude, summarize, judge, collect information with whatever it sees. You want to collect words and more words, that’s all. Of what use is it?

I took a couple of devotees to Mathura, the birthplace of Lord Krishna. It was so beautiful. We went in the boat on the river Yamuna, reliving the days of Krishna. I was sharing my bliss with the devotees - a pack of highly intellectual people. Here I was recalling the days of Krishna, showing them where Ras Leela happened, and I was filled with such ecstasy and the devotees are telling me that the tiles in the place look as if they have been renovated! I was so shocked. I told them that I should have brought a few people who had lesser knowledge and more awe left in them so that I could share my ecstasy with them.

Knowledge is dead at the end of the day. Somehow, people use knowledge to measure a person’s worth. The more knowledge, you have, the more you are respected.

With knowledge, you are constantly living with your mind. You can never know Existence with your mind. You can know Existence only through your heart. Only through love you can know Existence. And the mind does not know love; only the heart knows love. The mind knows only calculated love, which is not love at all. It is just another calculation that you do to satisfy yourself at the superficial level.

Spirituality, is all about understanding the perfect harmony, the deep connection between man and Existence. When you understand this and drop your entire struggle, you will just flow like a river. The river will take its course and join the mighty ocean. You just need to let go.

I don’t mean that you can sit in a corner and you will be swept by some river, no! You just do your work with the undaunted faith and feeling that there is a Life Force that is conducting this Universe that is taking care of you also, which is making the breath in you to go in and come out. That is enough.

Simply shift the responsibility to a higher authority and relax. You will then live like a king! You will then start listening to the synchronous music of the flowing river, of Existence taking you, of the harmony between you and Existence. This harmony is what you need to tune into. And then, all your worries will disappear!

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