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Even if there were such a common world of things and forces, it is not the world in which we live. Ours is a world of feelings and ideas, of attractions and repulsions, of scales of values, of motives and incentives a mental world altogether. !iologically we need very little our pro"lems are of a different order. #ro"lems created "y desires and fears and wrong ideas can "e solved only on the level of the mind. $ou must con%uer your own mind and for this you must go "eyond it. &'hen you (now "eyond all dou"ting that the same life flows through all that is and you are that life, you will love all naturally and spontaneously. 'hen you reali)e the depth and fullness of your love of yourself, you (now that every living "eing and the entire universe are included in your affection. !ut when you loo( at anything as separate from you, you cannot love it for you are afraid of it. *lienation causes fear and fear deepens alienation. +t is a vicious circle. Only self,reali)ation can "rea( it. -o for it resolutely.. /+ am That 0123 /*"out the conflict in !angladesh3 &$ou are loo(ing for a cure, while + am concerned with prevention. *s long as there are causes, there must also "e results. *s long as people are "ent on dividing and separating, as long as they are selfish and aggressive, such things will happen. +f you want peace and harmony in the world, you must have peace and harmony in your hearts and minds. Such change cannot "e imposed it must come from within. Those who a"hor war must get war out of their system. 'ithout peaceful people how can you have peace in the world? *s long as people are as they are, the world must "e as it is. + am doing my part in trying to help people (now themselves as the only cause of their own misery.. /0043 &This world of yours, that so much needs loo(ing after, lives and moves in your mind.. /0053 &#lease see that + want nothing from you. +t is in your own interest that + spea(, "ecause a"ove all you love yourself, you want yourself secure and happy. 6on7t "e ashamed of it, don7t deny it. +t is natural and good to love oneself. Only you should (now what e8actly do you love. +t is not the "ody that you love, it is 9ife:perceiving, feeling, thin(ing, doing, loving, striving, creating. +t is that 9ife you love, which is you, which is all. ;eali)e it in its totality, "eyond all divisions and limitations, and all your desires will merge in it, for the greater contains the smaller. Therefore find yourself, for in finding that you find all.. /0<13 &+n nature nothing is at stand,still, everything pulsates, appears and disappears. =eart, "reath, digestion, sleep and wa(ing > "irth and death everything comes and goes in waves. ;hythm, periodicity, harmonious alternation of e8tremes is the rule. ?o use re"elling against the very pattern of life. +f you see( the +mmuta"le, go "eyond e8perience.. /0<03
&?ature is neither pleasant nor painful. +t is all intelligence and "eauty. #ain and pleasure are in the mind. @hange your scale of values and all will change. #leasure and pain are mere distur"ances of the senses treat them e%ually and there will "e only "liss. *nd the world is, what you ma(e it "y all means ma(e it happy. Only contentment can ma(e you happy:desires fulfilled "reed more desires. Aeeping away from all desires and contentment in what comes "y itself is a very fruitful state:a precondition to the state of fullness. 6on7t distrust its apparent sterility and emptiness. !elieve me, it is the satisfaction of desires that "reeds misery. Breedom from desires is "liss.. /0<C3 &+n dream you love some and not others. On wa(ing up you find that you are love itself, em"racing all. #ersonal love, however intense and genuine, invaria"ly "linds love in freedom is love of all.. /04D3 &'here action is needed, action happens. Man is not the actor. =is is to "e aware of what is going on. =is very presence is action. The window is the a"sence of the wall and it gives air and light "ecause it is empty. !e empty of all mental content, of all imagination and effort, and the very a"sence of o"stacles will cause reality to rush in. +f you really want to help a person, (eep away. +f you are emotionally committed to helping, you will fail to help. $ou may "e very "usy and "e very pleased with your charita"le nature, "ut not much will "e done. * man is really helped when he is no longer in need of help. *ll else is Eust futility.. /05F3 &+ntelligence is the door to freedom and alert attention is the mother of intelligence.. /0GD3 &'hen the mind ta(es over, remem"ers and anticipates, it e8aggerates, it distorts, it overloo(s. The past is proEected into the future and the future "etrays the e8pectations. The organs of sensation and action are stimulated "eyond capacity and they inevita"ly "rea( down. The o"Eects of pleasure cannot yield what is e8pected of them and get worn out, or destroyed, "y misuse. +t results in e8cess of pain where pleasure was loo(ed for.. /0GC3 Q: +s there no such thing as permanent perfection? *: $es, there is, "ut it includes all imperfection. +t is the perfection of our self,nature which ma(es everything possi"le, perceiva"le, interesting. +t (nows no suffering, for it neither li(es nor disli(es neither accepts nor reEects. @reation and destruction are the two poles "etween which it weaves its ever,changing pattern. !e free from predilections and preferences and the mind with its "urden of sorrow will "e no more. /0DF3 &@ontradiction is the mar( of the false the real never contradicts itself.. /0D03 Q: 'hat is necessary? *: To grow is necessary. To outgrow is necessary. To leave "ehind the good for the sa(e of the "etter is necessary. /0D<3
&$ou are in "ondage "y inadvertence. *ttention li"erates. $ou are ta(ing so many things for granted. !egin to %uestion. The most o"vious things are the most dou"tful. *s( yourself such %uestions as: H'as + really "orn?7 H*m + really so,and,so?7 H=ow do + (now that + e8ist?7 H'ho are my parents?7 H=ave they created me, or have + created them?7 HMust + "elieve all + am told a"out myself?7 H'ho am +, anyhow?7 $ou have put so much energy into "uilding a prison for yourself. ?ow spend as much on demolishing it. +n fact, demolition is easy, for the false dissolves when it is discovered. *ll hangs on the idea H+ am.7 E8amine it very thoroughly. +t lies at the root of every trou"le.. /0CD3 &This H+ am7 idea was not "orn with you. $ou could have lived very well without it. +t came later due to your self,identification with the "ody. +t created an illusion of separation where there was none. +t made you a stranger in your own world and made the world alien and inimical. 'ithout the sense of H+ am7 life goes on. There are moments when we are without the sense of H+ am,7 at peace and happy. 'ith the return of the H+ am7 trou"le starts.. /0CC3 &'e "elieve in so many things on hearsay. 'e "elieve in distant lands and people, in heavens and hells, in gods and goddesses, "ecause we were told. Similarly, we were told a"out ourselves, our parents, name, position, duties, and so on. 'e never cared to verify. The way to truth lies through the destruction of the false. To destroy the false, you must %uestion your most inveterate "eliefs. Of these the idea that you are the "ody is the worst. 'ith the "ody comes the world, with the world > -od, who is supposed to have created the world and thus it starts > fears, religions, prayers, sacrifices, all sorts of systems > all to protect and support the child,man, frightened out of his wits "y monsters of his own ma(ing. ;eali)e that what you are cannot "e "orn nor die and with the fear gone al suffering ends.. /2F03 &!y themselves neither pleasure nor pain enlighten. Only understanding does. Once you have grasped the truth that the world is full of suffering, that to "e "orn is a calamity, you will find the urge and the energy to go "eyond it. #leasure puts you to sleep and pain wa(es you up. +f you do not want to suffer, don7t go to sleep.. /2F53 &'hen the mind is (ept away from its preoccupations, it "ecomes %uiet. +f you do not distur" this %uiet and stay in it, you find that it is permeated with a light and a love you have never (nown and yet you recogni)e it at once as your own nature. Once you have passed through this e8perience, you will never "e the same man again the unruly mind may "rea( its peace and o"literate its vision "ut it is "ound to return, provided the effort is sustained until the day when all "onds are "ro(en, delusions and attachments end and life "ecomes supremely concentrated in the present.. /2FD3 &$ou are pure "eing > awareness > "liss. To reali)e that is the end of all see(ing. $ou come to it when you see all you thin( yourself to "e as mere imagination and stand aloof in pure awareness of the transient as transient, imaginary as imaginary, unreal as unreal. +t is not at all difficult, "ut detachment is needed. +t is the clinging to the false that ma(es the true so difficult to see. Once you understand that the false needs time and what needs
time is false, you are nearer the ;eality, which is timeless, ever in the now. Eternity in time is mere repetitiveness, li(e the movement of a cloc(. +t flows from the past into the future endlessly, an empty perpetuity. ;eality is what ma(es the present so vital, so different from the past and future, which are merely mental. +f you need time to achieve something, it must "e false.. /2153 I+t is in the structure of the universe that the higher can "e had only through the freedom from the lower....'ider and deeper consciousness is higher. *ll that lives, wor(s for protecting, perpetuating, and e8panding consciousness. This is the worldJs sole meaning and purpose. +t is the very essence of $oga,,ever raising the level of consciousness, discovery of new dimensions, with their properties, %ualities and powers. +n that sense, the entire universe is a school of $oga.I