Process of progress
Nonviolence, nonpossessiveness, nonstealing, desirelessness and awareness are the fundamental vows of the art of sannyas. Sannyas like life is an art. Only those who are experts in the art of life can achieve sannyas. The art of sannyas goes beyond life. Only those who can experience life in its totality are able to enter sannyas. It is the next step of life. God is that building which is reached by ascending the ladder of samsar - worldly life. So the first point I would like to make clear is that there is no opposition - no contrast between the samsar and the sannyas. They are the two camps of the same journey. Sannyas evolves and blooms in the samsar itself. There is no enmity between the sannyas and samsar, on the contrary the sannyas is the fruit of deep and wide experience of the samsar. In fact the experience of sannyas is directly proportionate to the experience of samsar. Only those who do not under stand life, those who cannot go deep into the experiences of life, remain away from sannyas.
According to my view the flowers of sannyas blooms in the midst of samsar, and goes beyond, sannyas means going beyond samsar. In his search for happiness, a person finds that he is going deeper and deeper into unhappiness. While wishing or longing for peace he finds dis-quietude.
While running after riches, he sees that poverty within becomes more solid. His eyes open and he begins to look beyond the samsar in his life. Some people have told me that they find this subject difficult to understand and it goes high above their heads. My advice is to raise your heads. That would enable your raised eyes to look into the world of samsar and those talks would enter your heart. These matters are bound to be complex and difficult, they cannot be easy because their final fruit in nothing but unhappiness, their final result is nothing but ignorance, their final essence is nothing but darkness. The thing appears in one form, our delusion creates something else, and the truth is yet something else - other than that. But we live as if we are lost in the samsar, so we do not even have the idea that there can be any other truth than this.
I have heard that a man went to see the French Novelist Balzac. He began to talk with Balzac about the characters in his novels. While discussing the characters in the novels, the talk shifted to the topics of political leaders and politics. Balzac kept on talking for some time and then said, 'Excuse me, let us come back to reality again.' And he began again to talk about the characters of his novels.
To Balzac, characters of his novels were a reality, and the living characters on the stage of life were unreal. He said, 'leave alone these unreal talks, we should come back to our talk of realities.'
Balzac is a novelist, to him characters in his novels are lore true - to life. We are unable to see any other untruth except this samsar, in which we stand so deeply immersed. Howsoever the samsar becomes an unreal thing to those who, having raised their eyes, have seen it. The eyes directed in search of 'that' is called sannyas.
Being fed up, the sannyas is on the verge of disappearing from the world. It has not been able to stand the shocks of samsar and now stands alienated. The societies institutions and the order which had kept it alive and nurtured it are also in the process of disappearing. If the sannyas cannot accept or adjust to the new circumstances, too will not be spared. If we fail to give a new dimension - a new meaning to sannyas. This century will be perhaps the last one for the sannyasis, so it is very important in my view to save the sannyasis. It is the deepest fragrance of life - the greatest truth of life. It has become necessary to link it with the samsar. Now sannyasis cannot rive outside the samsar. Now it shall have to live in he midst of samsar, in the market-place, in the shop, in the office. Only then will it be spared Now he cannot live as an unproductive member of the society. He has to be an integral part of life around him. He cannot leave or run away from the samsar to attain sannyas. Sannyas is where there is full fragrance of life. It is a joy to be amidst the deep struggles of life. The fragrance of sannyas is only tested when its flowers bloom amidst the foul smell of life. Once we get to understand and know exactly what sannyas is, then there is no need to leave or escape from home, family, wife, children, work etc. The sannyasi who does this is always weak. He has to transform himself where he is. It is not the circumstances that matter but the mental attitude. Transformation comes from within and not outside. It is related to his personal individuality.
Artegaveyasti has narrated a small incident. It is said that a certain individual was on the point of death in his house. The wife is beating her breast and weeping aloud. A doctor is standing near the bed. That man is a respectable and a famous person. A press reporter is standing there - ready to send the news of his death to the paper. Along with the reporter a painter is also there. He wants to see a person dying. He wants to draw a painting of death. The wife is weeping aloud. The doctor is standing dejected, crestfallen. For him, it is a professional defeat. He could not save this man. The reporter is ready with his pen and diary, to note down the time of death and then to hasten to the Press-Office. The painter is standing and thinking and observing.
Only one thing is happening in that room. One man is about to die, but it is not the same thing for the wife, the doctor, the reporter and the painter. Four different things are taking place. To the wife, it is not simply the dying of somebody - she herself is dying, for the wife this is not any scene which is happening outside. It is pertaining to her very life. Now she can never be the same again. Something of hers will die - perish, forever, in which no new sprouts will perhaps ever come out. She is completely in-one-with this scene. To the doctor, there is no death - feeling within to him somebody is dying. But he is sorry because he could not succeed in saving him. To the wife, something is dying in her heart, to the doctor, some action of dying is going on in his brain. He is thinking if some other medicines had been given, the patient would have been saved. Have I made an error in his diagnosis. What should I do if another patient suffering from this very disease is on his death-bed.
The doctor's heart is not at all affected by the death of the patient, but much activity is going on in his brain. There is not that much activity in the reporter's brain. He is frequently consulting his watch to note down the time of death and then to inform the office. There is nothing else going on in his brain. He is just waiting for death. For the painter whether the man is dying or not dying has no relation at all. He is studying the darkness covering the face of that man. He is expecting to observe the last flickering light of life which will be seen at the moment of death on the face of that man. He is seeing the oncoming darkness in the room. He is observing the shadow of death which has gripped that room from all the four sides. To him the event of death of a person is a play of colours. He is examining colours, as he wants to draw a painting of death. He is totally an outsider, he has no other concern in this event. It does not make any difference to him whether this man dies, it makes no difference to him if that wife dies or that doctor dies or that reporter dies. He is engrossed in catching the beauty of the colours of death, he has no relation whatsoever with death. There is only one situation but it has four different mental attitudes. There could be even four thousand. Life is the same for a person of mundane existence as well as for a sannyasi but mental attitudes are different.
The sannyasi is trying to look at life from different view points different angles of vision. The mental attitude of a man of the world is quite different.
The samsar and the sannyas are two different mental attitudes, therefore, it is not necessary to run away from situations. It is a matter of great wonder how situations change when the mental attitude changes. This includes a hanging mind which may also embrace a change of situations. These changes are neither clear nor visible to the mind of a sannyas. He has a firm faith in this state. But a samsar believes that if the situation alters everything is altered and is ever caught in the mundane existence of life. I wish to tell you that sannyas is such a thing which ought to be saved. That West has given us science, it is the contribution of the West for mankind. The East has given us sannyas, it is a contribution of the East for the samsar.
As said earlier, sannyas is almost becoming extinct along with its supporting bodies. Tibet the home of the sannyasi is no more. It has to be revived again (not in the Press monasteries or in the Himalayas) but where the wordly life is - shops, factories, universities, etc. It has to come into the society from within its cores. An individual remains where he is but his mental attitude towards life is motivated by the five vows. The order of things is the same but his mentality is transforming amidst all the old associations. This is achieved through penance - a difficult task - but a wonderful and a profound experience.
The sannyas like love cannot become an institution. Institutions are made for security. Sannyas is a personal experience, like love it blooms and spreads. In an institution it is devoid of all its beauty, interest and mystery. An institution becomes like a prison for the sannyasi if he cannot return to the samsar if he so desires. But the state of sannyas is ones personal decision, one has the freedom to experience it fully and courageously and without any regrets. I know hundreds of sannyasis who are miserable because they cannot return to the samsar. I wish to emphasize on this state of the sannyasa. Just as science is the gift of the West to the world, sannyas is the great gift from the East, along with the greatest individuals of Asia like - Buddha, Mahavira, Christ and Muhammed.
The word Asia originates from the word 'Asu' of the Babylonian language which is almost six thousand years old. 'Asu' means the place from where the sun rises. It is opposite of the word 'Aresh' (Assariyan), from which the word 'Europe' originates. It means the place where the sunsets.
The world got science and scientists from the land of the setting sun, where there is a quarrel with darkness and there is activity to go into the depth of objects and search for material progress. While sannyas is born out of the search for nonmaterial, where there is movement to understand the depths about God and love of light. Sannyas is a personal decision. It is one's own understanding with one's inner vision. There is no pressure from any side. If he can go in, he can also return.
In my opinion it is not right for every individual to take a life time vow of sannyas. What I think is right today may appear wrong tomorrow. Everything in this world is periodical. A person enters sannyas to know what it is, if he finds it interesting he will continue to be a sannyasi, if not, there is no need for him to remain one just because of his decision. He will loose faith in the beauty of the sannyas.
Every person has a right to learn from his errors. When he cannot learn from his errors ho continues to plant ignorance instead of knowledge-wisdom in his life. The decision of a life long sannyas may contribute to make a sannyasi a more ignorant person than a man of knowledge.
There are two countries in the world where there is a separate arrangement for periodical renunciation. A life-long renunciation and a periodical one are prevalent in Burma and Thailand.
Any person can take a vow of sannyas for three months in a year. So you will meet lakhs of people in Burma who have adopted sannyas, some for three months, some for six months, some for a year, and some for two or four years. Such a person enters the world of sannyas for a fixed period. If a person during his experience of forty years of life, has been a sannyasi for ten or twelve months, he will be different from a person who has never entered the order of sannyas. If a person becomes a sannyasi even for one month in a year, he will not return as the same person as he was, because the next eleven months will be quite different for him. A person leads his whole life according to his inner self. I think-believe-it is not necessary to take a vow for the whole life, it will be a fortunate thing if it becomes a life-long event. It is the grace of God if it spreads for the whole life. Even the desire to take the decision for a moment is enough. The decision for today is sufficient.
The next important point is that the sannyas is beyond the realms of religion. It is not necessary to be a Muslim, a Hindu or a Christian. It is a sannyasis own personal choice whether he reads the Gita, or the Koran or the Bible or whether he goes to the masjid, a church or a temple.
On becoming a sannyasi one belongs to no religious sect. All religions and sects are one for him.
In fact, they all belong to him. If we can bring forth such a sannyasi in the world who is beyond all religious sects, we can easily lead this world on to a truly religious path. This would interlink man with man. So many problems of this world would just disappear. Say if he we had one or two lakhs of such sannyasis we can take the greatest step to destroy the feelings of hatred and enmity between men and nations in this world.
I like to divide this kind of sannyas into three divisions which will be easy for you to understand.
Number one, those who wish to lead their life as they are leading it at present, should continue to stay there and become sannyasis. They have simply to make an announcement of their decision to the world and to themselves. But this should not make an iota of change in the place where they are. They only have to change themselves.
There are many old people who come to me and tell me that they have too many problems in their house. They do not have any kind of communication in their families. The younger generation has no interest in the old people. All the links between them have been broken.
In the older-times there was an arrangement in the country when all the old people used to go to the ashramas. After the break-up of the arrangement there was a lack of understanding between the successive generations. Now according to this system all people over the age of seventy were sent to the forests and those old sannyasis taught the children who were sent there. Thus a link was forged between the two. And the old 'used to give what they had known and learnt during their long lives to these children.
There are many things which cannot be learnt in the universities; they can only be learnt through experience. One can acquire knowledge in colleges but not wisdom. Wisdom is acquired through the kicks, pushings and the conflicts of life. Now this situation where the older and the youngest generation used to mix, where the setting sun and the rising sun used to meet and the setting sun used to impart what it had acquired during its journey to the rising sun, is no more. The results - effect - of such a situation have been frightful. The distance between generations has widened.
There is no dialogue - no discussion - between the old and the young. Children do not understand old men's language nor do the old understand children's language. The old are dissatisfied with the children and the children laugh at the old, and that is the sign of their dissatisfaction. If there is no proportion - comparative value in life, if generations stand against one another as enemies, then life becomes an anarchy. The whole harmony is lost in such a life.
In my opinion, there should be one kind of sannyasis who live at home taking care of all the duties and responsibilities. Many among them may soon reach the stage where they do not have these responsibilities either. Then there are those who have no responsibilities and become a burden in the house and start indulging in useless chores .around. It is most necessary for these kind to go to the world of ashramas, where they could practice sadhana - devotion and meditation. They would also educate the children who go to them occasionally from the nearby places. These ashramas would function somewhat like universities.
There could also be another class of people who have no interest in worldly life. May be the chain of past events brings them to this point. Life for them has lost all its purpose and meaning. To push such people into the worldly life is like initiating a person who is about to get married into the life of sannyas by force. A person with an inborn fragrance of sannyas should most necessarily live in an .ashram where his life would be more productive. There they could run a farm or a hospital and be self-sufficient.
Those who cannot adjust to any of these should take some time off or a holiday every once in a while. Even God rested and become a sannyasi on the seventh day after creating the world. This holiday should be spent in an ashram as a sannyasi. When its over he can go back to his work.
This will alter his whole angle of vision. In this manner the sannyas becomes very meaningful, and can be saved from becoming extinct. Or else it will suffer the same fate as Buddha in China, where every idea of Buddha has been replaced by Mao. The joy and compassion in the life of Buddha, and the nectar in each of his utterances are absolutely incomparable to Mao's life and words. There is no comparison or a relation between the two. But this is happening and it can spread in the whole world.
If some one wishes that the ancient tradition - ideas about Sannyas should be adhered to, then the flower of religion will soon fade away in this world. It is necessary to give birth to a new ideology about Sannyas if we wish to protect the flower of religion in this world.
SANGH AND SANGATHAN Now a question arises: If nonstealing means nonfollowing, why have all prophets, religious leaders etc. created organisations for their followers? For example why did Mahavira create four-fold organization of sadhu-sadhvi and shravak-shravaki? In reply I shall say that meanings of words undergo a great change in course of years. Some words which had a particular meaning 2,500 years ago, do not have the same meaning today. And great errors are made due to this. A big change has taken place between what Mahavira called a sangh and what we understand by it today.
Mahavira did not name any institution a sangh. He called that assembly a sangh which had similar- minded people in it and who experienced a uniform type of joyous music. In Mahavira's concept of the sangh their was a spirit of companionship and harmony among the people in their search for truth, as fellow travellers. The meaning of sangh, according to Mahavira, is not an organisation. The word 'sangh,' does not mean an association, a club, a coming together, because an association is always established in opposition to something else. A sangathan - an association - is always made to oppose something else. The sangathan is always made to protect oneself; or to attack someone else. Mahavira had neither to protect himself nor had he to attack somebody. So the sangh did not have that meaning which we have.
On the other hand the Mussalman, for example, might say, 'Unite because Islam is in danger.' Or the Hindu would say, 'Let us unite because Hinduism is in danger.' India may call, 'Be united because China is preparing to invade us.' Pakistan might relay 'Be united because India is our enemy, and is our neighbour.' This is sangathan, and it invariably concerns either an attack or protection. For Mahavira, it has quite another meaning. By sangh Mahavira meant a communion; an assembly of like-minded seekers of truth, fellow travellers. There is no 'organisation' in it, no outside machinery for its management. It is like a meeting of four music lovers of a town who sit for the night to entertain each other. Someone plays the tambourines, someone else plays the harmonium. This is no sangh, it is simply an assembly of like-minded people. There may be four people in the town who practice meditation sitting in a room. They are dedicating themselves to God. This is not a sangh. This is not against anybody, nor is it in favour of anybody. This is only an assembly. To Mahavira, a sangh was a communion, an assembly of such persons who are on the journey in search of Truth. Such a sangh can be useful, not in the sense of a sangathan, but as an assembly - meeting ground. This assembly can be very useful because our whole life is linked with all things around us. If in a town, ten lovers of music come together and sing songs, it will bring them more joy and pleasure.
I have heard that if a Sitar is played in an empty room and there is another Sitar lying in a corner, an expert Sitarplayer can make the wires of that other Sitar jingle. Only one is played but its sound vibrations will touch the wires of the idle Sitar and make it jingle. If ten people come together and practise meditation and if one of those people goes deep into his meditation, his awakened vibrations will rouse the dormant vibrations of the others. Therefore, a community meditation has its own usefulness, a community practice of devotion has its own usefulness, a community prayer has its own usefulness. A community effort becomes very useful and meaningful for us who are weak-minded.
The sanghs of Mahavira, brought together people who had love in their hearts. It is very different from say a couple of thieves who get together and plan something which is going to harm somebody.
Such unions-sangh of rogues only pollute and darken the society. What we need more today, is the getting together of good people, who simply meet for the joy of meeting. Earlier, the temples or the masjids were the places where such people met. They sent out pure and holy vibrations of love. But today even such places have become professional organisations. But all that is best is produced by the best people like Mahavira, and it is unfortunate that people could not save it. They try to save it in its purest form but things change. There is a reason for this. Mahavira lived for eighty years.
What he has given falls into our hands, who are not Mahaviras, and who have no relation at all, no knowledge at all of that highest consciousness (of Mahavira). Things will turn out as we shall fashion them.
I have heard that Moses had a flute, and he used to go to a mountain sometimes to play it. Hearing it, the shepherds passing by that road stopped to hear the music. Deer of the forest stopped moving, birds became silent, and they surrounded him. After the death of Moses, shepherds who had heard the music of that divine flute kept it under a tree and began to worship it. It was a bamboo flute.
Only a generation or two had lapsed when people began to say, 'what is there in this simple bamboo flute? There should be something worth more to it to worship it.' They gave it a golden covering so that people could worship it. After a generation or two people said, 'what is there in this simple gold flute?' So they bought diamonds and jewels and covered it with them. But now no sound could be produced from that flute. After sometime an expert musician was passing by that road, and he said to some one, 'I have heard that the flute of Moses is being worshipped somewhere here. I wish to have a darshan - a look - of that flute.' When he went there, the flute was not there. It was covered with golden plaster and diamonds and jewels. He blew it from both ends. There was not even a hole in it for the sound to come out.
Mahavira's flute is also transformed like that, Buddha's flute is also altered like that, and we treat the flute of Jesus also in the same manner. Those who possess it make it ugly. The responsibility for this ugliness is not Mahaviras or Buddhas or Krishnas. The ugliness is entirely due to us it is our responsibility. Therefore, if an individual like Mahavira takes birth today, he shall have to speak against Mahavira himself. The reason to speak against Mahavira is that it is necessary to destroy that image of Mahavira which has been made by you. If some expert musician returns he will have to speak against that flute because it is not the flute of Moses. If Jesus would return, he would have to speak against Jesus, because even Jesus would not be able to recognise himself because of the transformation done to his image by us. He would doubt whether he had ever come on this earth, whether that was his image.
Everything is distorted when it is handled by man, but there is no wag out of it. We should tell the lovers of Moses who collect round him not to worship the flute but to learn to play the flute. It does not matter if they can't play like Moses, one thing will be certain that it will not get covered with gold and jewels. Then they can at least claim that it is not the worship of the flute but it is of the music coming out from it. This music can be produced only when the flute is hollow. If gold is filled in it, no music can come out of it.
Instead of only worshipping Mahavira and Buddha, if we contemplated upon their great achievement we would perhaps be able to stop distorting their true images. But are busy performing pujas. Pujas cause distortions. We not only kill what we worship but we cover it up with our own images and ideas, weave our own stories around them. The original thing slowly turns into ashes and loses all its individuality. This is all very unfortunate and we are helpless with our long established habits.
Almost everybody in the world has got 'Moses' flute' with him, but no tune is corning out of it. Buddha used to tell the people, 'Don't worship me.' Mahavira says 'You yourself are God'. The man who is telling others, 'You yourself are God,' is emphasising the fact 'Don't worship me.' That man says 'you yourself are that whom you worship. It is not necessary for you to worship someone else.' Mahavira says, 'Be independent, leave aside all dependence, because whom are you depending upon? You are that yourself what you search.'
This is the cause for all the fundamental mistakes of man. Uptil now man has succeeded and Buddha and Mahavira are defeated. One does not know whether this sort of position will change in future or not, but efforts to change it should continue. Now the individual who brings the message of God should fight against those past errors of man. It cannot be said (definitely) that man will believe in that message, because nothing could be asserted definitely and yet efforts should continue.
Now the final point about this question is that no matter how much gold or jewels cover Moses' flute today or no matter how many errors man has committed till now, we shall be able to find out Moses' flute hidden within.
If we remove all that has been attributed to Mahavira by his followers, remove all the smearings, if we cast away all the clothes that have been put on Buddha by his followers, we will see that real truth there even today. These outer coverings of 2,500 years have no value today. You need to search Buddha and Mahavira within yourself. And bear in mind, as long as I do not reach my inner Mahavira, I cannot know any Mahavira outside. As long as I do not reach Krishna within me, no Krishna will have any meaning for me. As long as Buddha is not awakened in me, not a word of Buddha can be word of my language. If we find out our 'self', we find all selves.
IS LEARNING STEALING?
One may go to them who have knowledge, but should not accept what they say or know. Scrutinise properly what they know. You should not be a blind believer. Don't get fixed in what they know, keep your eyes open and investigate. Inspiration from others does not mean to accept from others.
If you approach Mahavira, and get inspired by him, it does not mean that you should begin crying like Mahavira. Having approached Mahavira, inspiration would mean this: if this light - knowledge - wisdom could take birth in Mahavira, why could it not take its birth in me also? This is the challenge.
In English, the word is inspiration. It is very important. It is necessary to pay attention to the 'In' in it. But we always take inspiration from others. Thus the word is misunderstood. 'Inspiration' means inner impulse. The other can be an instrument in this. The other cannot become a support.
The other can be a challenge, he cannot become a rule. A lighted-lamp can become a source of information for an extinguished lamp which can also burn, because it has a wick and it has oil. And if this burning lamp does not become a source of inspiration for the extinguished-lamp and simply becomes an object of worship and following, then even if the extinguished lamp sits with its head bowed down at the feet of the burning lamp for infinite time, nothing will come out of it.
Inspiration means a challenge. Wherever 'that' is seen it should be a - challenge an inspiration - for him who should say 'Why is "that" not happening within me? Why should not that happen within me which has happened for one individual in this world?' all the means are present there. This heart is there which should become Mira's songs. This intellect is there, it should become wisdom.
This body is there wherein many people have attained God. These eyes are there, with which not only the objects can be seen but also that which is unseen can be perceived. These ears are there, which not only hears the music outside but also the inner one which Kabir had heard. Why can't I not hear the inner music if Kabir could hear it?'
The meaning of prerana is this: Go to all, search in all directions, see them who have reached the highest peaks, see them also who have achieved the depths, and see under your feet where you are standing. You can also go to those heights and those depths. That's all, there is in the meaning of the word 'Inspiration'. If you see more than this in its meaning, it will not be 'Inspiration', then it will be a following, it will be copying, and then you are blind, you are not a person with eyes. It is, of course, very essential for us not to be blind. A blind person cannot search God. He will be always groping about following somebody and wandering here and there.
Now can you achieve truth following someone? Truth is with me, let a blow fall on you. Let it be from anybody - it may be from Mahavira or Buddha or Krishna or Christ, let it fall on you. Accept the challenge from where you get it and thank the person - the giver for this challenge. But learn not that which you have seen, learn that which is possible within you. Understand the difference between the two. Don't learn that from others which has taken place within them. Only learn this much that whatever has taken place within them has the same potentialities in me too. That is also my seed. It is possible within me. Keep a seed near a big tree. The seed is not in a position to know that such a big tree is lying hidden within me. But if the seed sees that tree and asks it 'Have you always been such a big tree?' The tree would reply, 'I was a seed once and exactly like you. I had also asked the same question. They all replied, we were as sweet and as small as you are now. All this greatness was hidden within. It has only manifested itself now.'
The seed now has got a challenge, Now it will break open. But it cannot be exactly like that adjoining tree. It will only be what it can be. It is possible that another tree is lying hidden in that seed. If you remember this much, inspiration is not harmful, then it becomes helpful and fruitful. When inspiration comes from within then it becomes an inspiration. It is an inner stroke. When it is roused from a sleeping condition within by receiving a blow from a thing outside, then we know for the first time that we can also be this. This remembering is known as Inspiration. In this meaning one will have to learn, will be constantly learning. But learning and believing are quite separate things. Only ho believes who desires to learn, one who will not believe, will be searching and searching, and will continue not to believe till he has not achieved. When he starts in search of something, his search will not be a search of believing but it will be of knowing.
The meaning of learning is not faith or blind belief, it means 'to find out'. The meaning of learning is curiosity. It is a journey. It is the beginning, not the end. But we remain inactive after learning a thing. We say we have learnt from the Gita. What happens by learning from the Gita? You can learn Gita, but you cannot be Krishna by learning it. Nothing will happen even if you memorised the whole of it. One thing is quite certain that Krishna did not memorise it, and if he were asked to repeat it, he would have made many mistakes. Gita is a spontaneous flow, it is not a memory. It is a stream which has emanated from Krishna. And what are you doing? You are pouring it inside out.
No, after reading Krishna's Gita you should be filled with the keen desire to wait for that day when Gita will sprout from your heart and flow out. When will that day come when my soul also becomes the divine Gita, when will it be the celestial song? You should be filled with this remembering only.
Leave Krishna alone, leave his Gita alone, and start to search your own Gita.
One thing is certain, why should it not sprout from me when it can spring out from Krishna? God is not the patrimony of anybody. If Krishna could get the divine Gita can also get it. If it arose from the musical instruments of his soul, it can also arise from the musical instruments of my soul. But what about us? We are doing something quite different. We understand that to learn Gita is to memorise it. The meaning of learning the Gita is simply this: Now we have received a challenge. We will not be at ease until Gita does not take birth from within us. There will be no ease till every word of our speech does not become the word of God. You may learn it - cram it. It is easy to learn-memorise- Gita. To commit Gita to memory is a child's work (very easy), and the less intelligent a person, the easier and quicker is it for him to memorise it.
We should know what is right learning? We have to learn something else besides simple learning.
We have to learn that happening which is known by the name of Krishna. We do not want to learn what has come out of Krishna's mouth. What we have to learn is that - my seed can also sprout just as the seed is within Krishna sprouted, blossomed and became a tree. We have to learn-to-know and have that keen desire to break the seed. What we have to learn from Krishna is the madness, the obstinacy, the firm determination to break that seed. It can be learnt from Buddha and Christ also. It can be learnt from thousands of ways. And he who is eager to learn will be reminded even by flowers blossoming into a tree. One is reminded of Him by the shining stars in the sky, by the streams sprouting from the earth. We are reminded of Him by all and from all.
Once a Sufi saint was passing through a town. It was evening and a child was going to a temple with a lamp. The saint stopped him and asked, 'How did the light come in this lamp? Have you lighted the lamp?' The child replied 'I lighted it, but I don't know from where the light came.' Then the child blew off the light and said, 'It has disappeared in front of you.' 'And now tell me where has the light gone away? Has it not gone in front of you? Then I will also show where it has gone. That saint fell at the feet of the child and said that he would not ask any wrong question from that day, because it was foolishness to ask a question which he could not answer. He further requested the child to pardon him and declared that even he did not know where the light had gone. And then said, 'Leave the lamp alone. You did well in reminding me. I do not even know where the light burning within my lamp (body) comes from. I do not know where it will disappear when it is extinguished in my lamp.
Let me first inquire know - about my own lamp - self - and then I shall search about this earthen lamp.' He learnt something from this event.
There was an old woman living in the Ashrama of a Jain Sadhu. She told the Sadhu, 'The event (realisation) is not happening yet. Teach me something more, something else. She had learnt all the main principles, had learnt the shastras (scripture), but the fulfilment did not come. So she urged the sadhu to teach her more and more. The sadhu said, 'you yourself don't learn "That" which is being taught on all sides.' After sometime, she was sitting under a tree and a dry leaf fell from the tree. This was enough for her, she began to dance and shout in the Ashrama what she had learnt.
The people asked, 'Which shastra did you learn from? Please teach us, others are also ready here to learn.' She replied, 'I did not learn from any shastra, I saw a dry leaf falling from a tree and my desire was fulfilled.' But the people said, 'Oh mad woman, we have also seen many dried leaves falling from the trees, how did that effect you?' She said, 'No sooner did a dry leaf fall from the tree something within me also fell down, and I understood, if not today, tomorrow I shall also fall down just like this dried leaf. Then why should I be so still, so proud when I have to fall down like a dried leaf? I saw the dry leaf rocking in the air pushed to the East and the West. The air was kicking it.
It began to wander about the road. Not only this day, but the day which I call tomorrow it will be reduced to ashes and it will be pushed here and there by the currents of the wind. I will roam about like the dried leaf. From today "I" am not there. I have learnt this from the dried leaf.'
Its meaning is to keep ones eyes open and to accept challenges. Challenges come from all sides. A father gets them from his son. A son can gets them from his father. They can be got from a stranger while walking on a road. They can he had from the neighbour. They can be got from anybody.
We require a mind eager to learn and the true meaning of learning. We understand learning as memorising. Our learning is intellectual. Learning words, learning principles, memorising. When one is truly learning, he learns with every small hair on the body, by every breath, by every small particle of his life, with each throbbing of his heart. When the total individuality is prepared to learn, even a very small challenge thrills us and the dormant life - energy is aroused. We have to prepare ourselves for this condition. And those who are busy learning in an useless manner, have no time left, no interest left, and no place left in their mind. Everything is full. If you stand before God someday and ask Him why you could not learn - know him, He would not say that you did not know enough so you could not know him We would say that you learnt so much that there is no place left for you to learn Me. We have learnt much, but that which is worth learning has been left out. We do not understand a challenge. We do not learn to recognise a challenge.
Religion is a challenge. If you learn to recognise a challenge, you will get a challenge from anywhere.
There are no royal roads - for it. There are no hard and fast ways for it. The essence of life could break from anywhere. Life can take hold of you from anywhere Keep the doors of mind open. Keep on learning while walking on a road, while sleeping, while getting up and sitting. Keep on accepting challenges. You may receive a deep blow some day and the Veena of your heart will begin to vibrate.
Generally we react, we retaliate. If someone abuses us, we w ant to abuse him back. We do not want to abuse. Something causes us to abuse and we become slaves of someone. If I was to make you angry only a slight push is required to arouse it. The thing which can be produced in us by others is a sign of slavery. Reaction is slavery. Someone praises us we are greatly pleased.
Someone censures us we feel dejected and lost. We by ourselves are nothing at all, we are what the opinion is about us. To know what the people say about us, we preserve the newspaper cuttings with us. It should be considered a matter of great grace, we do not stick them on our clothes. All the time we are simply reacting. We do that, which others cause us to do. We are not individuals. We begin to become individuals only when we begin to respond.
Response is experiencing feeling. There is a great difference in response and reaction. Take an example. A person abuses you, there will always be the desire in you to abuse back. But if you respond it would be different. A person abuses you, if you pity him you say to yourself. 'Poor man! I do not know, what causes him to abuse this way' - this is a response. You have not acted because of his abuses. You have continued to act according to your own views. The action which is stimulated in you is not a mechanical result of his abuses, it is a conscious answer in return. It is a conscious response. There is a great difference between these two actions. When we switch on an electric button, the fan begins to revolve. The fan does not think whether to revolve or not to revolve. When the button is pressed, it goes on working, again the button is pressed, it stops working; similarly when you are abused - the button is pressed - you become angry. You are praised - the button is pressed - anger vanishes. So think, are you an individual or a machine? Your behaviour is mechanical. Reaction is mechanical. Response is a sign of consciousness. Response a very great thing.
When Jesus was to be crucified by the people, he was asked to pray to God at the last moment of his life, then Jesus prayed to God to pardon those people as they did not know what they were doing. This is response. This is a conscious reply. If a person is to be crucified he cannot generally show this type of reaction. His reaction would be to abuse his executioners, to curse them, to curse them to destruction. He would pray, 'Oh God, these people are crucifying your dear son, burn them, throw them all in hell.' This would be his reaction. This is mechanical. Jesus said, 'Pardon them because they know not what they are doing.' This is response.
Therefore the individual who wishes to enter the world of sadhana - practice for fulfilment-wants to go on the path of the sannyas, should be constantly aware of his actions, whether he is reacting or responding. While walking on a road you get pushed by another person, you should stop for a moment. What is the hurry to react? You should stop for a moment and see whether the answer you were about to give was mechanical or full of consciousness. You will find yourself in difficulty.
Then you will not be able to give a mechanical answer. It is possible, you will laugh and proceed further on your way, you may not answer. But such behaviour will also be your answer. But we do not even give this much chance to ourselves. On one side, the button is pressed, on the other side sex is excited. You get a push and the result is anger. Somebody praised us and immediately we get a swollen head.
There is an interesting joke about Bertrand Russell. It is said, the words, 'Oh God' came out from his mouth at the time of his death. A priest was standing near the bed. He was very surprised. He was afraid to come there because Bertrand Russell did not believe in God, so it was not possible to ask Russell to pray or confess. He was standing there in a nervous condition, but when he heard the words 'Oh God' from Russell's mouth at the time of death, he got a little bold, and asked him, 'Do you believe in God?' Then Bertrand Russell opened his eyes and asked the priest who he was.
He replied that he was a priest, and was afraid as to how he could ask him to repent or confess as he did not believe in God. Russell then told him, 'It is not proper to ask a guest who has come to my house to go back, so I shall confess, I shall repent.' And then Russell said, 'Oh God, if there is a God, please forgive my soul, if there is something like my soul.' Then the priest said, 'What are you doing?' Then Russell replied, 'I cannot do anything without thinking about it. I do not know if God exists or not, I do not know if there is soul or not. At the most I can use 'If' in my statement. 'If God is there, please forgive this Bertrand Russell if Bertrand Russell is there.' This man is not showing any reaction even towards death. He makes a response even towards death. He is not nervous even at the moment of his death.
I have a friend. He is an old thinker, and a learned man. He always attends Krishnamurti's lectures.
Once he told me, 'Rama, Om, Mantras, all such things have not disappeared from my mind ' I asked him, 'Are you definite about this?' He replied, 'They have totally gone away. There is no place left in my mind for all such things. I neither sing devotional songs nor repeat God's name, because He has no name, there cannot be any song about Him. I listen to Krishnamurti's lectures. I have understood his view completely.' I thought the man very good, but when he asserts so forcefully that he has understood Krishnamurti completely, there must be some doubt within him. Again I said 'It is good you have understood Krishnamurti's arguments '
After a couple of days he had a heart attack. His son sent me a word that he was very nervous and that I should go and see him. I went there. His eyes were closed and he was repeating Rama, Rama. I shook him and asked 'What ar you doing' He opened his eyes and said, 'I don't know. When I felt death was approaching, my mind said, let Krishnamurti go and then it was out of my control.
Then 'Rama' began to come out my mouth. I am now uttering that word, it is coming out by itself. It is simply happening.' The words Rama, Rama were coming out due to nervousness. This is called reaction. This man believes in God but he is reacting. While Bertrand Russell does not believe in God and yet he is responding.
I believe Bertrand Russell can achieve God someday This man will never achieve God. The statement - if there is any soul, if there is any God he should pardon me - is a great statement full of consciousness. Indeed a very great conscious statement. A person who uses 'If' even in relation to the Soul, who uses 'If' even in relation to God at the time of his death, gives a positive suggestion of himself being a man of consciousness. He is not nervous. He is not afraid of death. He is standing there completely prepared along with death. This is response. If you remember this difference between the two, you will be able to save yourself from reaction and will proceed towards response.
And consciousness is produced - created in your life when you begin to respond consciously in your life. Such an individual full of consciousness will be able to achieve God someday.