Sadhana: the fruit of understanding

[Note: This is a translation from the Hindi Maran Hey Jogi Maram, which is in the process of being edited. It is for research only.]

The first question:

Question 1:

Anand Maitreya, in these matters the visions of West and East are different. The West thinks in the language of history, the East thinks in the language of myth. History is of facts, myths and parables are of truths. A fact happens in a particular place and at a particular time. A fact has limits. A fact is temporal, an event in time. The truth is eternal. Its expression is also in time, nevertheless it is not bound by time.

This is why in the East we have not been concerned at all - neither an accurate history of Rama is known, nor of Krishna. What we have in our hands are stories. If you look with the vision of the West they are mere stories, imaginary fantasies. Until there is solid proof the West is not ready to accept anything as history. The twenty-four thirtankaras of the Jainas appear to be imaginary fantasy. There is no proof.

It is difficult to ascertain even the exact date of the Buddha's birth. We have not worried about this. What difference does it make? What is the difference if Buddha was born in village A or village B? And if Buddha was born in this year or that, what difference does it make? We have tried to understand Buddhahood. What does it have to do with Buddha's personal life? His body was momentary, here today and gone tomorrow. His message is eternal. And it is not the message of only one buddha, it the message of all buddhas.

Hence note this too, when we made the statue of Buddha we weren't concerned much whether it looked like Buddha or not. We didn't create the image of the Buddha by looking at Gautama the Buddha. We created the image of the Buddha by extracting the essence of all buddhas. How buddhas live each and every moment - the accumulation of the essence of all buddhas is what we have cast in Buddha's statue. The statue of Buddha is the symbol of all buddhas.

If you go to a Jaina temple you will be surprised seeing the twenty-four statues of the Jaina tirthankaras, they all appear exactly the same. These twenty-four individuals cannot be alike. In the whole world no two individuals can be exactly alike, so how can these twenty four individuals be exactly the same? Even identical twins are not exactly the same. So these twenty-four individuals spread out over a long time, very remote, with thousands of years between them, how can they be all alike?

They were not all alike. But there was something inside of them that was the same: the same meditation, the same samadhi, the same flow of energy... It is because of this inner sameness that we did not pay attention to the outer. We preserved the memory of the inner experience. The outer image is simply an indication towards that inner experience. The statues of the Jaina thirtankaras are not based on fact, they are based on truth.

A fact is outer. For instance when you see a rose flower it is fact, if you see two rose flowers it is fact. But it you extract the perfume from thousands of rose flowers it is truth. It has no relationship to any one flower. It is the essence.

This is why the concern of this country is very different. It never bothered with where Gorakh was born. There are various claims. Someone says Punjab, someone says Bengal, and the biggest claim is Nepal's, because the Nepalis say the name of the village that Gorakh was born in is Gorkhali, and this is why there is an ethnic group of Nepalis called Gurkhas. It is from Gorakh's name.

But the endings on Gorakh's words indicate that he may have been born in Bengal: HANSIBA, KHELIBA, KARIBA DHYANAM - LAUGHING, PLAYING, DOING MEDITATION. His personality was multi-dimensional.

As I see it he must have been a wandering monk moving all the way from Bengal to Kashmir, from Nepal to Kanya Kumari. He must have stayed many places, must have mixed with many people, his lovers must have emerged in many places. Many places people must have felt that he is ours. Who wouldn't like to make such a lovable man their own? Those who took him as theirs must have made up stories themselves.

Stories are affectionate. Stories don't say anything about the facts, but they say something about the feeling that must have come up between Gorakh and other people. If Gorakh went to Bengal he would have become a Bengali. He must have merged so much into the Bengali flow of life that people felt that he is a Bengali.

People come to me here. If I speak on Jesus then Christians come and ask me, are you a Christian?

If I speak on Buddha then Buddhists come and ask me, are you a follower of Buddha? When I spoke on Nanak then Sikhs came and said to me, you have revealed meanings that we had never thought of: you are the true Sikh! Whoever I speak upon I get deeply involved in. I let him speak through me. So Sikhs can feel that I am a Sikh and Buddhists that I am a Buddha and Christians that I am a Christian.

They must have felt like that with Gorakh. Wherever he went, wherever he stayed, wherever his feet touched, people there must have felt he is ours. They must have felt it because of his love. And the matter of when and where he was born becomes even more difficult to decide. Such a person neither talks about his birth, nor about his house and home. What house and what home does such a person have? The whole sky is his home! The whole earth is his.

Just yesterday I was looking at a letter published in CURRENT magazine that some Hindu sannyasin has written against me. He requested the government to initiate a court case against me because I am a traitor. He is right. The government should pay attention to his statement. I can be called a traitor because I don't believe in countries at all. I have no country or region. I know this whole earth as my own.

The sannyasi who said this - a Hindu fanatic - must be troubled: why am I not declaring myself a Hindu? I am not. I am not bound by any limits. Mosques are mine and temples are mine and churches are mine and gurudvaras also... And I do not believe in nations. I believe that humanity is suffering because of nations. Nations should be destroyed. Too many national anthems have been sung, too many flags have been flown, too many idiocies have happened on this earth. Accept the unity of mankind now. Now, one world and and one mankind... These national governments must go. And until they go man's problems cannot be solved, because man's problems are bigger than nations.

For instance India is now poor. India cannot come out of this poverty by its own efforts alone. There is no way. India can come out poverty only if it receives the cooperation of all humanity, because now mankind has the technology, the science is available that the poverty of this country can be destroyed. But if you remain arrogant that we will destroy our poverty ourselves... but you yourself are the creator of this poverty: how will you destroy it? Your understanding is the basis of it, how will YOU destroy it? You will have to open your doors. You will have to expand your heart a little. You will have to take help from the rest of mankind.

And it is not that you have nothing to give. You have something to give to the world. You can give meditation to the world. If America wants to seek meditation it won't be able to do it through its own strength. It will have to lift its eyes towards India. But they are sensible people. They are coming to the East to learn meditation. They don't have any difficulty. There is no hindrance.

The sign of the intelligent is to take something where it is available. The whole earth is ours. By dividing it into sections we have created disturbances. Today man has means available that if nations are destroyed then all the problems can be destroyed. If there were a way for all mankind to gather together then there is no reason at all for any problem to remain on this earth.

But there old habits. Our country - 'Hindustan is better than the whole world'... And this kind of idiocy exists in other countries too. They have the same idea. Conflict is because of these egos.

Then because of conflicts and national boundaries all of man's energy goes into war.

You will be surprised to know that now we have collected enough war material in the whole world - especially in Russia and America - that each and every man can be killed a thousand times over.

We have available the means to destroy one thousand earths. There is however only one earth.

Armaments go on piling up. And any day the mania of a single mad politician and this whole earth will be a heap of dust, it will become a pile of ashes.

And from politicians, madness can be expected. Who else will you expect it from? From a single politician going mad this whole earth will move into such terrible chaos that you won't even have a chance to think of understanding it. It will take from five to seven minutes for the whole world to be reduced to ash. The news will not be able to reach before death comes. When such terrible preparations have been made for violence the old ideas of nations cannot work. Now it is dangerous.

It is because of these same nations that armaments have accumulated. For their security... So the other doesn't somehow get ahead, we have to keep ahead of them.

Eighty percent of humanity's ability goes into war. If this eighty percent ability went into farming, went into gardens, went into factories, this earth would become a paradise. The dream that your seers and prophets used to see of heaven in the sky can now be created. There is no obstacle. But old habits... This is our country, that is their country. We have to fight, they have to fight. The poorest of the poor nations are also engaged in an effort to make atom bombs. They are dying of starvation but they want to make atom bombs. Underneath, this same idea chases even after a country like India. We may starve but our glory must be preserved.

I don't believe in countries. If I am listened to then I will say that India should be the first country to renounce nationalism. It would be good if the country of Krishna, Buddha, Patanjali and Gorakh renounces nationalism and says we are an international area. India should become an area of the United Nations Assembly. It should be said that we are the first nation that entrusts itself to the United Nations - you take custody. Someone must start it... And if it is started there is no need for wars. These wars will continue as long as there are borders. These borders must go.

He is right it can be said that I am a traitor - in the sense that I am not a traitor to humanity. But all your lovers of nations are traitors to humanity. The very meaning of patriotism is treason towards humanity. Love of nation means dividing into parts. You have seen haven't you that a person who is patriotic towards his region becomes an enemy of the nation. And one who is patriotic towards his district becomes an enemy of the region. I am not an enemy of the nation, my idea is international.

This whole earth is one. I want to abandon the small for the vast.

And these small-small enclosures, these dikes have troubled man too much. In three thousand years five thousand wars have been fought. And previously it was okay if wars fought with bows and arrows went on happening, there was no harm. If a few people died there was no problem. Now, war is total war. Now it is the suicide of all mankind. Now every place can become a Hiroshima - any day, at any moment... Consider the horror of this war and think of how much energy is going into it. This same energy can fill the entire earth with greenery, can fill it with prosperity. For the first time man can dance absorbed in bliss, can sing songs of ecstasy, can follow the quest of meditation.

But this will not happen. Your so called patriots, these nationalists...

Nationalism is a great sin. It is due to this nationalism that all these problems exist in the world. I am not a nationalist. I want to break all boundaries. Whoever on this earth who has received a small glimpse of the truth has no boundaries. They do not belong to any country, any community, any class, any sect, any caste. They belong to all, all belong to them.

And this kind of person, a person like Gorakh, doesn't bother to talk about when he was born, or talk about which house he was born in, or talk about which town he was born in. These are useless things because Gorakh knows: I was never born and I will never die. These statements are of the body-minded. These statements are of those who are attracted and identified with the body. A person like Gorakh has known that which is never born, that which never dies. That which cannot die, cannot be born. After knowing the unborn, the unbegun, the unending who will talk about birth?

Who will he be talking about?

This is why people like this don't talk about it. Naturally many stories will be left behind them but definite facts will not be left. And such people have such a vast heart that they cannot agree to any kind of distinction. Because distinctions are an indication of ignorance. One who says I am a Hindu, I am a Muslim, I am a Christian - these are the signs of the ignorant. Where the light is burning distinctions have gone. Distinctions live only in darkness. There is the emergence of the one free of distinctions, the indescribable. Because of this nothing can be known with certainty where he was born, when he was born.

But some people are involved in this inquiry. Some people have put their lives into it. This type of person does research in universities, becomes a great researcher. He receives degrees - Ph.D.

and D. Lit. and D. Phil. They are very respected. And what is their job? Their job is to decide when Gorakh Nath was born. Someone says at the end of the tenth century, someone says at the beginning of the eleventh century. A great debate goes on about this. The wise of great universities go on prattling and researching in scriptures, proofs of this, of that. Their whole lives go into it. What can be more unwise than this?

If you know when Gorakh was born what will you do? If you know it what will you gain? If it is proven that Gorakh was never born, what will be gained? Whether he was or he wasn't is meaningless - have a taste of what it was that Gorakh lived.

Your universities are occupied with such meaningless projects that it is surprising: should they be called universities or not? Their work, the research done in your universities is all rubbish.

I was speaking somewhere. A very famous researcher, a great scholar stood up. And he asked me, "If you could answer just one question of mine: who was the elder, Buddha or Mahavira? They were contemporaries. ... because I have been researching this for thirty years."

I looked at him with a feeling of pity. I said, "Your thirty years are spent. What truth would there be if Buddha was older or younger?"

"No," he said, "it should become historical knowledge."

I said, "If you had ascertained that Buddha was older or that Mahavira was older what would you attain? And those that read history what will they attain? And thirty years? You have wasted your life. And other people think that you are involved in a very important project."

Sometimes in the name of so called knowledge such stupidities go on that if you reflect on it you cannot even imagine. If you enter into the innermost of Buddha, into the innermost of Mahavira, you will find there are not two persons there. There is only one. A single cloudless sky, a single silent music, a single festival of bliss.

Zen monks are right when they say, did Buddha ever exist? They are people who revere Buddha saying, did Buddha ever exist? Buddha never existed, it's all useless nonsense. They worship Buddha everyday and say, Buddha never existed, it's all lies. What is the motive of these Zen monks? They are saying if we said he is then some people will go enquiring about when he existed, on what date he existed. They will waste their time on it. This is why we say, he never existed, drop this mischief. But what happened to Buddha certainly happened. Who it happened to is not important. If his name was Gautama or something else, if his father was this one or that one - it is all of no use.

Something happened to Buddha. Sitting at the base of a tree one morning he didn't get up the same way he had sat down in the evening: some new man got up. This is the real birth. Call only this birth. And it has no connection with date, day of the week, month or year. A moment came when thoughts became calm, became silent. Consciousness became a pure mirror. Let your consciousness become the same, put your time into this process. It is better if you become a Buddha yourself. It is better that the sound of Gorakh echoes inside of you. Instead of your going into the life history of Gorakh, it is better if you go inside Gorakh.

This is why this country did well not to consider useless things, they didn't get pulled into these meaningless things. They said only what was real and essential. Man is so mischievous, so ignorant, that if a tiny scrap of the unessential is put into his hand he will tend to it and forget about the essential. This is why we have not talked about the inessential, we have only talked about the essential. If you want to catch hold of something then catch hold of the essential. You have already attained the inessential, so we have erased all the inessential, we have rubbed it out.

It is not that the beautiful stories we have fashioned necessarily happened. There is no reason for them to. They are symbols. And symbols are poetic. They are not connected with history, they are connected with the inner being. For instance we have said that when Buddha became enlightened flowers bloomed out of season. This is not history, flowers never bloom out of season.

We have written that when Buddha went into a forest if he sat under a withered tree that green leaves would come. This has never happened. It is not history that seeing Buddha's meditation, seeing Buddha's samadhi, leaves came to the tree. But it is an indication that wherever Buddha's feet stepped greenery spread. Life became green there. A new upsurge of inner life came, a new grace rained down. Buddha is a shower of nectar. This is a poetic way of saying it. It is not more than this.

Jesus was crucified and after crucifixion he came back to life. This coming back to life is not a historical event. This being resurrected is a profound symbol, it is poetry. It is just saying that death cannot happen to a person like Jesus. Death happens to the unenlightened. Those who believe that they are the body, they die. How can those who have known that they are bodiless inside the body die? For them the cross too is the inception of a new life. For them the cross too is a throne. They do not die. They live in eternal nectar, they die in eternal nectar. Their nectar continues, the stream of nectar goes on flowing... if in a body then in the body, or if not in a body then outside of the body.

But people are engaged in trying to prove that it is a historical fact. And then there is trouble. I told you recently that when a snake bit Mahavira milk came out. There are Jainas that try to prove this milk coming out is a historical fact. They are foolish themselves and they are inviting others to be foolish. This much is obvious: milk is a symbol of love. When a child comes into the mother's womb, then in manifestation of her love, the mother's breasts fill with milk for nourishing the child.

The mother begins to flow for the child in a stream of milk. The child starts to receive life from the mother's milk. Love gives life! It is merely a symbol in this story that if a snake bit Mahavira even then there was only compassion and love in Mahavira's heart. How to say it in poetry? In poetry it is said: when Mahavira was bit, blood did not come out, milk came. Blood should have come, but milk came. This is poetry. It is lovely poetry, if you take it as poetry. But if you stubbornly insist that it is a scientific statement then you are being idiotic.

We have fashioned stories around all unique persons. All these stories are very loving. Consider these stories as indications. They are not concerned with true and false. There are a few hints in them. And if you grasp the hints the stories will fall behind. You will be getting started on a pilgrimage.

Drop your concern with where Gorakh was born, when he was born. Leave this work to the scholars.

In the end those poor people need some work too don't they? Leave this to the researchers, otherwise who will give them Ph.D.s? Gorakh has been very compassionate that he didn't write it down. If he had written it down who knows how many people's doctorates have would been missed!

It is also his kindness that he didn't give any message as to where he was born. Who knows how many people are engaged, engaged in this very job. Idiots need something to be engaged in!

Sensible people don't get entangled in such things. Get acquainted with Gorakh's message. Let Gorakh's sutras descend into your heart. If you become a Gorakh it is good, if you don't become it's okay. The sutras are important. Whether Gorakh existed or not makes no difference in the significance of these sutras.

Do you think that if Krishna existed the Geeta would be more valuable, and if Krishna did not exist the Geeta will lose value? What madness are you suggesting? Will the theory of relativity be more valuable if Einstein existed? Does the theory of relativity receive strength from the existence of Einstein? It receives no strength. Whether Einstein existed or not the theory of relativity is powerful in its own right. Its support is within itself. It is irrelevant who gave birth to it.

Do you know who first kindled fire? Scientists say that fire is the world's greatest discovery. Who first kindled it is unknown to us. At least some fifty thousand years or more must have passed since some man first kindled fire. No one even knows his name. But will you not bake your bread on the fire because you don't know his name? Will you sit near a fire and not take heat when it is cold?

What's the difference whether it was A or B or C? - whether he was black or white? - whether it happened in India or in Africa? What difference does it make where fire was first lit, who lit it? We know that fire is valuable in its own right.

The methods of sadhana are just like this - they are fire, flaming fire. If you are courageous, take the jump.

DIE, O YOGI, DIE! DIE, SWEET IS DYING.

DIE THAT DEATH GORAKH DIED AND SAW.

Leap into that fire that Gorakh lept into. You also be burnt to ash in that fire of no-thought. And from your ashes a new form will arise, a new light, a new life that is eternal.

The second question:

Question 2:

Only one who becomes completely happy in a worldly sense discovers that happiness is unreal. The unhappy never find out. The unhappy live in the hope that if they can find worldly happiness then everything will be alright. The hope of an unhappy person is very alive. In the eyes of a discontented man there is a flame of hope. Only in the eyes of the contented does the flame of hope vanish. This is why I continuously say that only the contented person, contented in the so-called worldly sense, can start off on the religious quest.

When you have all the so called contentment and still you are not happy, then it becomes clear that there can be no contentment in 'this world.' Whatever you could collect on the outside, you have collected. Now you are in a situation where all illusions have broken, where all the mirages of dream have been uprooted, you have lifted the veil and seen there is nothing inside, there is no one inside, there is emptiness within. You will certainly be troubled.

When someone becomes contented in every way in a worldly sense his problem is: then, what is it? Now there is nothing I want. I have everything - money, power, respect, family, I should be completely happy. This is what I wanted. Until now I have been unhappy because they were missing, now why am I unhappy? Now I should not be discontented.

Your illusion broke. What you thought were reasons you were unhappy were not the real reasons.

You thought that if you had all these things then you would be happy. Now you find that you have all these things and happiness has not come. So your whole analysis of happiness was wrong. Something else was needed to attain happiness. Something must awaken inside to attain happiness.

Contentment does not come from the fulfillment of any outer conditions. Contentment is the shadow of the awakening of being. Contentment is attained only from meeting god. And god is sitting hidden inside of you, but you go on running outside. You have turned your back towards him. Even if you go in search of god you go outside - to Kashi, to Kaaba, to Kailash. If you seek god then temples, mosques, gurudvaras... When will you close your eyes? When will you look inside yourself? When will you seek within the seeker? Make a little contact with the consciousness that is within you.

Spread roots in it a little. Be introduced to it a little. In this very introduction contentment is born.

In the world there is no contentment, nor can there be. There never was and there never will be.

Contentment only happens when we are united with our hidden inner master.

When you yourself remain unknown to me, What shall I do with worldly recognition?

When I have not received two drops of your affection, Nor two moments to express my anguish to you; When you have continuously neglected me, What shall I do with worldly respect?

When you yourself remain unknown to me, What shall I do with worldly recognition?

There was but one hope, only one aspiration, My heart was filled only with pride for you But since you have not made me yours, What shall I do with this meaningless pride?

When you yourself remain unknown to me, What shall I do with worldly recognition?

How can I show you my longing?

How can I show you my devotion?

Which take voice but can say nothing What will I do with these songs?

When you yourself remain unknown to me, What shall I do with worldly recognition?

This the moth asked of the lamp:

It is what Cupid said to Life; Not being separate from you, but still slowly dying; What shall I do with this life?

When you yourself remain unknown to me, What shall I do with worldly recognition?

How long must I pray to the lifeless?

How long will I yearn for your blessing?

This paradox continues for age upon age, What shall I do with this god in silence?

When you yourself remain unknown to me, What shall I do with worldly recognition?

Become acquainted with god, make some relationship with him, make a love relationship, be joined with him by the thread of love. Even a rough string of his love and an infinite shower of happiness comes. What you didn't attain from gaining the whole world, is attained in a moment of samadhi.

Wealth is inside. You have come with wealth. Contentment is your nature. Happiness does not have to be acquired. And for contentment no condition has to be fulfilled. Contentment is unconditional, because contentment is inner nature. To be discontented is unnatural, to be contented is a natural happening.

Just as the nature of fire is to be hot, it is the nature of man to be blissful. Seeing a blissful person don't think that something special has happened. The blissful man is the ordinary man, the easy man. Seeing an unhappy person understand that something is disturbed, something is special.

The unhappy man is an extra-ordinary man because what should not happen he has managed to demonstrate. The contented man is existing as he should. Just as a cuckoo cooing, singing its song, you do not call special. Yes, if one day a cuckoo starts going caw-caw like a crow there will be a problem.

Man's happiness is a completely natural thing. Just as the trees are green and there is scent in the flowers and birds spread their wings and fly into the sky, in the same way happiness is man's nature.

We have called this nature sat-chit-anand, truth-consciousness-bliss. It has three characteristics:

truth, consciousness and bliss. Truth means what is and will never be destroyed, what is eternal.

Consciousness means awareness, wakefulness, meditation, samadhi. And bliss is the culmination.

One who is and who is absorbed in meditation, in him the fragrance of bliss arises.

Exist so that you can become conscious. And the day you become conscious is the day the fragrance of bliss arises. The tree of truth bears flowers of consciousness and the perfume of bliss is diffused.

Contentment is not connected with what you have and what you don't have. Contentment is related to what you are. However many things you collect, perhaps they may increase your worries, increase your troubles, but contentment will not increase. Certainly discontentment can increase with them, but they are not related to increasing contentment.

And I am not saying that you should give up things, that you should flee your home that you should renounce your business. No, don't understand me wrongly. What is is good. Nothing will happen either by dropping things and fleeing, nor by holding on. Remain where you are, but begin searching inside. Much outer search has already happened, now go inside. Now know that one, that when known one attains everything, that all desires are immediately fulfilled.

The third question:

Question 3:

Anand Bharti! Life can only be lovely, because life is god. Life is the manifestation of that most lovely one. It is he that has manifested in these infinite unending forms. You have made temples and falsified him because his temple is in every direction. Wherever you bow down is his temple.

Wherever you open your eyes it is his face. Wherever you enjoy listening, it is his sound. What you see, what you hear, what you taste it is all he.

This is why the Upanishads can say: Annam Brahma - food is god. Such an expression is not found in any scripture in the world. And when the Upanishads were translated for the first time and in English it was written, food is god, people were very surprised - eating is bhagwan? How to translate it? They were shocked, what kind of statement is this? They didn't understand. They made a direct literal translation - food is god, annam brahma. They missed. Such great utterances have no direct translation. Such great statements have only indirect translation. Such great utterances can be explained but cannot be directly translated. It is a very significant statement.

The Upanishads are saying if you taste something it is he, there is no other. The receiver is also he - the one sitting inside tasting is he, and what is being tasted is also he. If you pick a pomegranate from a tree: it is he in the pomegranate, it is he in you, you are not different. The fruit is one way of his manifesting, you are another way of his manifesting. God is expressed in infinite forms. All of these songs are his, the singer is one. The world and life will have to be lovely!

But I understand Anand Bharti's problem. We have been taught for centuries that life is sin. It has been explained to us that life is the fruit of our sins in our past lives, how could it be lovely? Whoever has called life sin has called god sin. They didn't understand the statement of the Upanishads.

Those that have said life is the fruit of sins have been disrespectful of god's grace.

This is why whoever comes near me, whoever is slowly slowly descending the stairway of meditation with me, they will have this difficulty one day or another, as Anand Bharti is having. One day waking up in the morning you will suddenly find that the whole universe is incomparably lovely, all of life is filled with his vibration. It is his veena that is playing. He is the one singing in the birds. He is the one flowing in pools and streams. He is the one rising up high in the waves of the ocean. He is the one looking from the moon and stars. From a firefly to the suns it is his light. He is sitting in sinners, just as much as in the virtuous. Not a drop less.

Do you think that in Ravana, Rama is less? There is as much Rama in Ravana as in Rama. There isn't any difference. There can't be any difference. It is another matter that for the Ram Leela, Rama needs to be divided in two parts. Do you think there can be a Ram Leela without Ravana?

How would it be? Its very support will fall. Do you think Rama can exist without Ravana? It is impossible. Just try writing a story about Rama leaving out Ravana. Write a story that is Rama and only Rama. You yourself will find it is completely flavorless. No juice remains, no meaning remains.

He is standing there with his bow and arrow, he will get tired, you too will get tired. Sita Ma is sitting there. And Ramachandra Ji is sitting there. No one comes and abducts her, nothing happens.

Just try sometime putting on a Ram Leela in some village without Ravana. The first day people will come, but the second day people will stop coming, thinking what's the use? The court is decorated, Ramachandra Ji is sitting. People will get up and start asking when will the Ram Leela begin?

What's going on?

The manifestation of life is dual. Life is dialectical. This is why there is light and darkness, there is birth and death, there is good and bad, there is white and black, there is beautiful and ugly, there is Rama and Ravana. Those that know say: his play is in both. And if one knows this he has no more difficulties. Then life appears very lovely. Then you will find the experience of beauty everywhere because you will find his imprint. You will hear his foot falls in every place.

My heart is in the springtime of paradise Sampling the fragrance of flowering orchards Ah, the charm of intoxicating night I am on earth, my soul is with the stars If a little understanding comes you will not remain on the earth. You will remain on the earth and your soul will be in the stars. You will start expanding. Your being will become vast. Lotuses will start blooming in you.

The rhythm of your songs, O wonderment!

This cheer, this sharpness, this tenderness.

Why doesn't the world melt and flow away?

Just contemplate this in your heart.

Or are you so drunk on raga music Or so lost in ecstatic rhythms Stop! for the arms of song Transport me up into the skies!

Open a little. Wake up and look a little. Put to one side a little the education given by your so called religious people. Again open your eyes. Again become acquainted with nature. And you will be surprised.

Or are you so drunk on raga music Or so lost in ecstatic rhythms Stop! for the arms of song Transport me up into the skies!

His song will engulf you from every side, or you will start flying in the skies. Or you will start to be frightened, or you will be freaked out: what is going on? So much beauty! And so much spontaneously showering, as if the ocean has entered the drop!

Anand Bharti it is well you ask. Ecstasy is happening. She is becoming absorbed in bliss. So much ecstasy is happening that previously she used to sit in the front, now I have to seat her in the back.

She started to get ecstatic sitting in the front and it started to be a disturbance for others. She started laughing, for no reason. If you laugh for a reason it is okay. If I tell a story or tell a joke and you laugh it is okay. But Anand Bharti couldn't wait for me to tell a joke, she would laugh first. Knowing I am going to tell one, that I am about to tell it, why wait? So the poor woman has to sit in the back.

An ecstasy comes, a feeling of bliss is coming. She starts to fly in the skies.

So she will feel, why is life so beautiful? How should I answer? Live IS beautiful. It cannot be any other way. Life has always been beautiful. Just there was a veil on your eyes. The veil has started slipping. There were webs of religious dogma over your eyes, the webs have started tearing, the webbing has started tearing.

And what else is my work here? To clean the dust a little from your eyes. To wipe a little dust from your eyes so that your eyes can become a mirror and start to reflect things as they are.

Like your name, like wine overflowing, Like the drunkenness of love, this autumn moonlight.

It charms the heart, like passionate music, Entices the eyes, like a dream lover, Like your beauty, like spring sunshine, Juicy like sweet memories, this autumn moonlight.

Moonlight is blossoming, like your laughter, Filled with high spirits, like the hope of union, Like arms of affection, like the shadow of your curl, Shy like you, Beloved, this autumn moonlight.

Who knows what happened, an unknown experience, Body filled with thrills, like the first honeymoon night, Laughing heart, open full moon, all restraint defeated, More certain than a promise, this autumn moonlight.

Like your name, like wine overflowing, Like the drunkenness of love, this autumn moonlight.

Existence is filled with very lovely beauty. There is nothing here but moonlight. There is nothing here but the moon. Here everything is calm, only you must not remain excited. Let your heat cool down.

What else is meditation but a process for cooling your heat? A method of letting your temperature come down a little. People are very excited. People are very feverish. People are deranged.

Thousands of desires have excited them. There is a great race for self gratification in their mind.

Peaceful moments never come. Intervals of relaxation never come. 'Stop your feet and reach the village!' But feet don't stop and the village is not reached. If you stop the goal is right here, right now. But you go on running, you go on escaping. You think the faster you run the sooner you will arrive. The faster you run the further away you will get. The goal is where you are, the goal is not somewhere else.

God is here, this is my proclamation. God is right now, this is my teaching. Here and now! Don't put him off till tomorrow and suddenly the veil will lift from your eyes. The veil of tomorrow is covering your eyes. You say tomorrow it will happen, tomorrow... And if the tomorrow of this life is used up you will say it will happen in the next life. Again tomorrow! And if the tomorrow of the next life is used up you will say it will happen in the other world, tomorrows move further ahead. But you go on delaying for tomorrow. Your putting god off until tomorrow makes him false.

God is now, here, this very moment. Let the curtain slip from your eyes. Push aside your burqah, push aside this veil. And what is the veil? Meaningless thinking that has been dumped on your head for centuries. Your skull is filled with scriptures, this is why truth could not manifest.

Do you see Gorakh? He says again and again: "O pandit, you have looked too much in study, now see by living. I am the disciple of the living, I am the companion of the one who is living."

Live god, too many prayers have happened. Eat god, drink god, cover yourself with god, wear god, wake up in god, sleep in god - live god! Too many prayers have passed, too much worship.

Offerings, sacrifices, fire sacrifices: many have been done. Nothing has happened from them. Live!

God is food. Taste him. In eating too, remember - it is he. Talking to someone, remember - it is he. Slowly slowly the recognition will become firm. Slowly slowly your life will be overwhelmed by his beauty. That beloved will be seen.

In my braid a bouquet of star flowers, Night has adorned me; The full moon bejewelling my forehead, Reflects the enchanting image of his face; The dawn colored by the red of his feet, Smiles red the parting of my hair!

I have surrendered unto him!

Without my asking he gave love and affection, He gave respect and affirmation; Freedom stood there entirely bound, I have accepted the bonds; In total defeat he is victorious, In total victory I am defeated!

I have surrendered unto him!

Nourished always in his shadow, Moving always behind him; In his very life-temple, I burn always like a waxen candle; Attaining him I have forgotten the world, Myself completely forgotten!

I have surrendered unto him!

When did I want love and affection, Or a delicate garland of flowers?

My intention was worship and prayer, My sole desire was the right to worship At his radiant feet, laughing I have sacrificed body, mind - everything I have surrendered unto him!

Where do you go on searching? If you are to sacrifice, then sacrifice right this moment, because he is present.

At his radiant feet, laughing I have sacrificed body, mind - everything I have surrendered unto him!

Attaining him I have forgotten the world, Myself completely forgotten!

I have surrendered unto him!

In total defeat he is victorious, In total victory I am defeated!

I have surrendered unto him!

The dawn colored by the red of his feet, Smiles red the parting of my hair!

I have surrendered unto him!

God is not some person that you will meet someday. God is another name for this existence. The union is happening but you have the insane belief that god is a person, that you will meet in the form of Rama, or you will meet him in the form of Krishna, or in the form of Christ, or in the form of Buddha, or in the form of Mahavira. You have gone astray because of this, this is why you do not attain union. Your belief causes difficulties.

God is standing before you, but you say, "Until he is holding a bow and arrows in his hands...'till then this forehead won't bow.' My head is not going to bow. First pick up the bow and arrow." The conditions of ordinary people are okay, but these are the words of Tulsidas.

A few friends took Tulsidas to a Krishna temple. All were bowing. Tulsidas didn't bow. He said, "My forehead will not bow. I know only one - the one with the bow and arrow in hand." Krishna was standing there playing his flute, with his peacock crown. Krishna did not suit Tulsidas.

What narrow minds even our so called saints have! You won't let Ramachandra Ji play on a flute?

He has to go on holding bow and arrow twenty-four hours? Even men get vacations. Even overtime is eventually finished. But he says until he picks up bow and arrow, I will not bow. I bow only before the one with bow and arrows.

Remember it, this man does not know how to bow. He is saying that I will bow when my condition is fulfilled. This bowing is conditional. In this bowing is ego. He is saying, if my condition is fulfilled then I will bow. The deal is clear. If you want me to bow, if you are interested in me bowing then fulfill my condition. I will bow before my idea. This is ego. I have nothing to do with how you are.

If you stand there playing your flute, wearing your peacock crown, then stand there. This is not my belief, I will bow before my belief. Pick up the bow and arrow then I will bow down.

This is the problem. How can this poor tree pick up bow and arrows? How will this sun pick up bow and arrows? How will the moon and stars pick up bow and arrows? It is a difficulty. And god is standing at the door as the sun, but you will not bow. Baba Tulsidas did not bow so how will you bow? Pick up the bow and arrows then I will bow.

Existence cannot pick up a bow and arrow, nor can it pick up a flute. Is existence a person? But we have established the belief that god is a person. Just go on wandering, you will never meet god.

And if you meet him sometime, carrying his bow and arrow, know that it is the illusion of your mind.

It is the web of your imagination. It is your dream. You have seen this dream for so many days that now you have started seeing it with open eyes. It is a daydream. It is illusion.

It is not god when you close your eyes and he stands there holding bow and arrow, or playing on his flute, or Jesus hanging on the cross... It is your belief. And you have repeated and repeated and repeated this belief so many times from childhood on that repeating and repeating you have self hypnotized yourself. Now you see him. You can see anything in this way. Just go on repeating, go on repeating, go on persistently. You can start seeing anything this way. Do a little experiment and see.

A young man went to Nagarjuna. And he said, "I have started experiencing god. His face is in front of me. I close my eyes, god smiling faintly stands before me, I really enjoy it."

Nagarjuna said, "You do one thing." Nagarjuna was a rough carefree sadhu, an extraordinary sadhu.

A man just like Gorakh. He said, "You do one thing, then we will talk about this experience. You sit in the small cave facing us and think for three days that I am not a man, I am a buffalo."

He said, "What's the matter? Why should I think this?"

Nagarjuna said, "If you want to be in contact with me and you want to understand then this will have to be done - a small experiment. After doing it I will reveal the secret."

The man went on sitting for three days. He was a stubborn man. For one who has dragged the face of god near, what's difficult in a buffalo? He got totally into it. For three days he didn't sleep, didn't eat, didn't drink. Hungry and thirsty, tired and worn out he just kept on repeating one thing, I am a buffalo. One day, two days: on the second day from inside the cave the sound of a buffalo started to be heard. From outside the cave people started staring and asking what's the matter? He was a man but the sound of a buffalo has started coming out. He started bellowing. On the third day when the sound became too much and Nagarjuna started to feel disturbed and obstructed by this noise, Nagarjuna got up from his cave, went and said, "Friend, come out now." He tried to come out, but he could not get out.

Nagarjuna asked, "What is it?"

He said, "How can I get out, my horns... the door is too small."

Nagarjuna shook him and said, "Open your eyes idiot! This is why I told you to do it. I understood looking at you that what you thought was god, was self-hypnosis. Now look! You think you are a buffalo! In three days you have become a buffalo. Nothing has happened. You are a man just the same as always. The door is the same. It is just the same as it was when you came in. Get out!"

He opened his eyes, was a little startled. Nagarjuna gave him a shove. So he got out. But still his horns were getting stuck!

You must have seen when some hypnotist is on stage, some magician, is hypnotizing people. He has only to suggest something in their mind. He just suggests and they start to do it, they start to do exactly what he says.

What you have known in the name of religion is not more than self-hypnosis. Real religion is freedom from all hypnosis. And then god is not a person, then god is the total. Then god is the union of this whole existence. And then an extraordinary stream flows. Because wherever your go you meet him.

Then the universe, then life is very lovely. And when life is so lovely understand that religion has manifested in your life, it has commenced, the first drop of truth has fallen.

Anand Bharti, it is good. Don't make it a worry, don't doubt it, don't raise questions - sink into it, sink deeper into it. God is beauty, the ultimate beauty. Wherever you find beauty know you are hearing his footfalls. God is music, the ultimate music. Wherever you experience deeper sound, know that it is he humming. God is light, whether it is a lamp or the moon and stars. Wherever light is seen recognize him. God is consciousness, whether inside you, or inside your child, or inside your neighbor. God is life, whether your life or a bird or an animal or a plant.

Become acquainted with god in all his infinite gestures. He has given such a vast temple whose canopy is the sky! He has given such a vast temple where every night there is Divali, a festival of lights. He has lit so many lamps! Scientists have not yet been able to count them. You can count the stars with the naked eyes but it will not be more than three thousand. Counting and counting the scientists have gotten tired of counting. Four billion stars have already been counted. But this is only the beginning. There are more stars, many more. The more scientists count it seems there are more ahead, more ahead... There doesn't seem to be any end. Every night there is Divali and such blind people, no one sees Divali! Every morning his spring Holi festival happens, so much red powder is flying, so many flowers are blooming, so much fragrance is released, so much perfume is dispersed. But people are blind. Every morning his pipes are playing in so many throats. But people are deaf.

Jesus has said many times, if you have eyes see, if you have ears listen. Do you think Jesus was speaking in some ashram for the deaf and blind? Jesus was speaking to people like you, who had eyes, who had ears too. But the eyes do not see and the ears do not hear. The eyes have become very limited, they see the trivial. The ears too have become limited, they hear the trivial.

I teach you sensitivity. Let your every sense become profoundly sensitive. Let your every sense become sensitive in its totality. Let every sense burn like a torch burning from both ends at once.

And then every experience is his experience.

Life is certainly lovely.

The fourth question:

Question 4:

He gives joy, he gives sorrow: the giver, the master is one. Everything comes from him. Accept with equanimity and you will see this truth: that everything comes from him. There is nothing other than he.

Then suffering too has its greatness. Sorrow is not useless. Sorrow polishes, sorrow cleanses, sorrow awakens, sorrow gives depth. Only sorrow makes you deserving of joy. So don't make suffering an enemy. One who makes suffering an enemy remains deprived of joy also. Make sorrow steps to him, steps to his temple. Yes, there will be difficulties in climbing; I admit. Tiredness comes, breathing increases, sweat comes; I admit. But these are the steps to his temple. His temple is very high, there are many steps to his temple. His temple is a Mount Everest. There is difficulty in climbing, certainly, but the more difficulty in climbing, the more the bliss in reaching. And there is no helicopter for reaching to his temple. It is good that there is no helicopter. Otherwise you would ascend, arrive at his temple and you would not experience any bliss.

You must have noticed that the more trouble you have had to take on to get something, the more you feel blissful - in proportion to the trouble. Whatever you get for free, you don't even feel like saying thank you for.

This has happened. You have received life free. Think a little, have you given thanks to anyone?

Have you given thanks to god for giving you life? You got it free, why give thanks? Who to thank?

A wise man said to Alexander, "You have made such a great empire, but it is nothing. I consider it worthless."

Alexander became very angry. He told the fakir: "You have to answer well for this or I will have your throat cut. You have insulted me. My lifelong effort and you say it is nothing, worthless!"

The fakir said: "Imagine that you have become lost in a desert. You have strong thirst. You are dying. I appear. I have a pot filled with fresh water. I say I will give you a glass of water, but for a price. If I ask for half your empire will you give it?"

Alexander said, "If I am dying of thirst in the desert then not just half, I"ll give the whole thing."

Then the fakir said, "The matter is closed, the price of one glass... the price of your empire is one glass of water. Its not worth even two cents, because water is free."

To save his life Alexander is ready to give his whole kingdom. But you have life: have you given thanks for it? You have received free that which you can give an empire of the entire earth for - and you haven't even given thanks. You have not received it with gratitude.

Think of how much you have received. You have the potential for love in your heart, have you given thanks? Song can arise from your throat, have you given thanks? You eyes open and you can see the incomparable beauty of this universe, have you given thanks? Just ask a blind man, what would you be ready to give if you could get eyes? He would say, "I am ready to give everything for eyes, if only I could get eyes. What should I save? I will give all."

But have you experienced any honor in having eyes?

What man receives for free has no value. Existence has given much to you that is invaluable, but you consider it valueless. But one thing you get only by paying the price - you will have to climb the mountain of god. You will simply have to climb the mountain. There will be suffering in climbing the mountain. But if you are going towards the temple then suffering will not seem like suffering.

I have heard, a sannyasin went on a pilgrimage in the Himalayas. Exhausted, sweating profusely, gasping for breath. The ascent was long and steep. In front of him was a mountain girl of some nine or ten years, ascending with her little brother on her shoulders, drenched in sweat, exhausted.

When the sannyasin reached close to the girl he said, "Daughter" - in a sympathetic tone, lovingly - "I am very tired, you must also be very tired. You are climbing with such a load."

The girl looked angrily at the sannyasin and said, "Swami Ji, you may be carrying a load, this is my little brother, not a load."

Where there is love there is no load. Although if you put the little brother on the scales he will be a load. But on the scale of love the load has disappeared. Look at the magic of love! The law of gravity is finished by the magic of love. The Swami Ji must have been climbing up carrying his small bundle. That bundle must have weighed something. On the scales perhaps the little brother's weight would be more, but on the scale of love the little brother has no weight. The girl was angry. She got angry from this, saying, "You have called my little brother a weight! You are carrying a weight, this is my little brother."

If you experience difficulty while climbing the steps of god's temple, will you call it difficulty? If you are going towards the temple of the beloved then there is no trouble.

If life is a search for truth then joy and sorrow are accepted equally, then no problem remains.

Your love is sunlight and shadow, Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears, It is beyond me!

Sometimes with wildflowers Filling my lap, Sometimes worthless road dust Cruelly making jests; This is why I speak weeping bitterly Are you an enemy of mine or a friend?

Embracing or rejecting? unable to understand I give up.

Your love is sunlight and shadow, Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears,It is beyond me!

Sometimes within myself Even loneliness becomes talkative, And sometimes in the crowded world Even my own heart is lost to me; This is why I say sobbingly Am I chasing a whim or am I safely ashore?

Sometimes drowning me, carrying me across, awakening hopes!

Your love is sunlight and shadow, Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears, It is beyond me!

Sometimes on threads of imagination These unknown moments are bound, Sometimes in the Yamuna water from the eyes The home I know flows away; This is why I speak fretfully Oh, what strange support is this, Lamps have been blown out, dreams readied , but sleep comes not!

Your love is sunlight and shadow, Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears, It is beyond me!

All is his. Sunlight is his, shadow is also his. Sorrow is his, joy is his. Life is given by him, death is also given by him. When all is his then equanimity is effortlessly achieved. Understand this secret.

It may be that the questioner thought I would explain some technique for achieving equanimity. If you achieve equanimity through some technique then it will remain superficial. The achiever has never gone inside, the achiever remains on the surface. If you just dye your clothes you will remain undyed. The achiever is on one layer - the outer layer - he doesn't touch the inner spaces. You touch the inner spaces when you understand. It is not a question of achieving, it is a question of understanding. Just understand: all is his.

What is spiritual achieving? What is sadhana? The meaning of sadhana is that if sorrow comes you will stand proudly saying you will not be influenced. You will pass by uninfluenced, without being shaken. This will bring arrogance. This is not sadhana. The ego will become stronger from it. You will not melt from this, you will become more fixed, more of a stone. This is why your so called religious people become stonelike. Not even a little moisture of compassion remains in their lives.

Not even a little beauty remains in their lives. The very possibility of music becomes destroyed in their lives. And they have gone in search of the ultimate music. And they have gone in search of infinite beauty. But in their lives you will find no poetry. Their life become dry and flavorless. Why?

Because of sadhana. They are forcing themselves. It is sadhana, difficult sadhana. So what to do? Make a bed of thorns and sleep on it; because the difficult is sadhana. Staying equanimous sleeping on a bed of thorns as if one is sleeping on the most beautiful bed.

But the man who sleeps on a bed of thorns loses the sensitivity of his body. His body becomes inert. His body becomes dead. In his body life is finished. Life crawls inside. We will fast so we can manage hunger. If hunger comes then too we can remain equanimous. It can be managed. But this sadhana is not true. True sadhana is the fruit of understanding. It comes like a shadow following understanding.

What I am saying to you is, understand this:

Your love is sunlight and shadow, Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears, It is beyond me!

Are you an enemy of mine or a friend?

Embracing or rejecting? unable to understand I give up.

Am I chasing a whim or am I safely ashore?

Sometimes drowning me, carrying me across, awakening hopes!

Oh, what strange support is this, Lamps have been blown out, dreams readied , but sleep comes not!

Your love is sunlight and shadow, Sometimes causing laughter, sometimes tears, It is beyond me!

Move into this world of mystery. Search for that which cannot be grasped in the hand. Go in search of that which cannot be grasped. But how can you seek what cannot be grasped? God cannot be grasped by you, but you can come into his grasp. If you seek him you will come into his grasp, you will be captured by him. And this is union.

The last question:

Question 5:

This is beautiful. It is a beautiful thing. Whatever you would want as a blessing will be wrong. Some demand of yours will be included in it. Some desire of yours will come in by the back door. Your desiring will be in your request. If you had asked for something then the blessing would be wrong.

If you are asking for blessings then you must ask, "I don't know what I want, I just want blessings."

And then you can receive what you cannot even think of. You will receive that which you could not even imagine. And it is not yet in your imagination what it is you want to meet, whose meeting will satisfy you. How could it be in your imagination? You do not have any experience of that ray. That droplet has not descended your throat.

This is why your question is lovely. Your question is meaningful. You did well not to place any conditions on the blessing. People make conditions. Without conditions people never ask for blessings.

Someone is fighting an election so he comes to me asking for blessings. I say to him, "You will ensnare me too. It is certain you are going to hell, you want to take me along with you. I can only give one blessing, if god wills it: that you lose the election. If you win you are gone. If you lose there is some possibility left that something can happen in your life. If you win you are gone." One who wins is filled with so much ego that nothing can happen in his life. One who starts drinking the poison of victory slowly slowly wants more and more poison. The intoxication is like wine. More lethal than alcohol because if you drink wine in the evening by morning you come down. One who drinks the wine of greed for power never comes down, he goes on staying high. He gets one office then he wants higher offices. If he get them then he wants yet higher offices. And if there is nothing higher left to get then what he has he will not allow to be taken. This madness is never finished.

People come to me. They say my wife is sick, please give your blessing. Or my child is not finding employment, please give your blessing. What trivial matters you want to put blessings on. If employment is not found, then there are ways of seeking employment. If your wife is sick there are medical remedies. What is the need of bringing blessings into it? And if employment is found through blessings and if your wife is cured through blessings then this country could never get sick.

Then this country could never become poor. Here there are so many people giving blessings - saints, priests, sadhus, sannyasis, mahatmas. Is there any shortage of people giving blessings here? Here blessings upon blessings are given. No one's stomach is filled by blessings nor is employment found. But there is a danger. The person asking blessings drops other means. He thinks he has received blessings, everything is okay. Now why go to a physician? And if the blessing is not fulfilled then he doesn't think that he has made a mistake, he thinks that he has asked the wrong person for blessings, now he will ask someone right. Life is wasted this way. The life of this country is wasted just like this. This country became poor, became miserable, became enslaved.

One of the main reasons behind this is the mentality of asking for blessings.

Blessings are not connected in any way to the world. Blessings are something of the other world. Ask without conditions, only then is something possible. Something happens from blessings certainly. Money is not produced, meditation is produced. Illnesses of the body cannot be relieved by blessings - otherwise there would be no need of medical science. Yes, the illness of the soul can be relieved. But you do not know the illness of the soul. You do not even know the soul. Meditation can shower from blessings. But the demand you have inside is for money, not for meditation. You meditate hoping that perhaps you can get money through it.

People come to me saying, "Maharishi Mahesh Yogi says that one who meditates will receive abundantly in that world and will receive in this world too. There will be worldly gain also. What do you say?"

If there were worldly gain from meditation then this country would be at the peak of prosperity. This country has meditated more than anyone else has. Buddha meditated, attained samadhi. The story says that flowers showered. I have not heard that dollar bills showered. Rewrite the story so that it can be related to Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Rewrite the story.

Mahavira attained samadhi, realized ultimate aloneness. Flowers showered from the sky, the gods made celestial sounds. The gods must be crazy, what's the use of showering flowers? Let diamonds and jewels shower! If something is to be given let it be something meaningful, poor Mahavira was just standing there naked as ever. Something should be given to him. At least let some clothes fall down. He lived hungry and fasting, couldn't he be given some affluence? They kept dropping flowers, making sport of a hungry man. Wedding pipes blaring for a man standing naked? Mahavira was a good man, otherwise he would have broken the shahnai-pipes of the gods and beaten them, saying are you making fun of me? They did not know about Maharishi Yogi, how conditions would become later on.

But I understand Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's reasons. If you want to propagate something in America, the American craze is for money, not for meditation. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi is a shrewd salesman.

He is ready to give whatever you want. He has to give whatever the customer wants - a businessman does not bother with what the customer needs. What the demand is - if something wrong is demanded, then the wrong is given. He agrees with whatever is asked. A shrewd businessman believes that the customer is always right. What he says is right, right exactly like he says it.

In America he is selling meditation - and sales are moving there - he is selling meditation. America says we want health, so they will get health. If money is needed they will get money. If professional skill needed they will get professional skill.

I cannot give support to this kind of idiotic nonsense. If it could happen from meditation then in this country abundant silver and gold would have been showering since long ago. You have heard stories that this country was once the golden bird. It is just a story. This country was a golden bird if you consider this country's rajas and maharajas and it still is. If you think of this country's ordinary man it has always been poor and a beggar. It has not become poor and beggarly just today. And if you think of the rajas and maharajas it is wealthy now. The style has changed. Now it is industrialists, rajas and maharajas no longer exist, it is other people. And if you look at them it is a golden bird right now.

This country was never a golden bird. Yes, some people in this country have gold. And the reason they have gold is they have taken gold from the rest of the people.

Money is not received from meditation, from meditation something else is received which is ultimate wealth. Something comes from meditation that is not of this world, but of the other world. In meditation the other world descends into this world.

You have done well, asking blessings and leaving unsaid what is asked. There is only one thing worth asking:

every atom in the universe may change but the path to the beloved's temple can never change the eagerness for worship can never change thus it was inscribed in the language of my inner feeling thinking it a precious rain drop the love bird quenches his thirst every atom of life may change the sacred flow from the eyes can never change the path to the beloved's temple can never change this delicate flower offering, an unbroken, pure adoration, a welcome breath offering respect, tears giving the greeting praying hands, an invitation from the soul every atom in the temple may change the love of my lord can never change the path to the beloved's temple can never change Nearing the beloved's temple everyday I prepare to enter and sweet hope, one day my turn will also come every atom of sweet union may change the sigh of longing can never change the path to the beloved's temple can never change Ask only one blessing: to awaken and keep awakened, an unwavering flame in god.

Ask only one blessing: how can we know that which is the foundation of everything, the source of all.

every atom of sweet union may change but the path to the beloved's temple can never change the eagerness for worship can never change Enough for today?