Words from the Master

Swamiji, your face appears to be changing every time to me. Is it my imagination or is it true?
(Swamiji laughs!)

See understand: My Being is liquid without any ego. I just flow with Existence and whatever I express flows like liquid and you perceive it in my face. That is the reason why my face appears to be changing all the time! You will understand how an egoless state expresses, when we talk about the next chakra, the Ajna chakra.
Yes…

Swamiji, how do we get over possessiveness and jealousy?

Yes, how do we get over it. The fact that you have asked this question shows that you are ready for better understanding.

Understand one thing: Human beings can never be possessed. When you try to possess a person, you actually reduce him or her to an object. You make the person as a dead thing. Only dead things can be possessed. Understand this very clearly, then you will be free from possessiveness and the jealousy that arises out of it.

Just see every human being as a river that is flowing, and simply enjoy what he or she brings along. Can you try to possess a river? If you try to grasp the water in your hand, you will be doing a foolish thing, is it not? In the same way, don’t try to possess people; just enjoy them for what they are and you will be free from the grips of jealousy.

You will then understand that possessiveness is something that is created out of your own deep, complicated mind to which you have given so much power.

When you try to possess a person, it becomes difficult for that person also. You will start projecting all your ideas on him. He will have to act so as to gel with your projected ideas. He will feel caged. He becomes divided in his personality. He cannot be his natural self with you. And this cannot be called a relationship!

If you really love a person, liberate him! Don’t try to possess him; only then a real relationship can blossom; only then, a relationship not dependent on anything except deep love and trust can blossom. The moment you try to hang on to something, you have missed it. Just love him with no strings attached.

I am reminded of a story:

In a remote village in South India, where people did not know that civilization existed, there was an old couple.
One day, for the first time ever, there was a fair in the village.
The man went to the fair and saw all the items on show.
He picked up a mirror and was awestruck by what he saw!
He had never seen a mirror in all his life before.
He took it home with him.
Now and then he would take out the mirror, glance at it and put it back before his wife could see it.
The wife however noticed it and when he was out one day, she picked it up and looked into it.
She exclaimed, “Another woman! Just as I had thought!”

(Laughter!)

There is no end to our imagination because of our possessiveness and jealousy! Almost always, our imagination is not in tune with reality. If we just stop and look deeply into our jealousy, we will understand that it is baseless and needless.

Of course, you might say, “Swamiji, how can I keep quiet if my husband or wife is eyeing someone else.” If your husband or wife is really eyeing another person, just look into the matter consciously and with full awareness, instead of getting into an unconscious mode of action.

When you look into possessiveness and jealousy with awareness, you will not be gripped by undue imagination or emotions. You will be able to see things in the right light and behave appropriately and take the right decisions.

By telling yourself not to feel jealous, you can never come out of it. Only if you bring awareness into the whole thing and understand deeply, it will help.

To overcome jealousy, just see how the jealousy came into your system, just analyze the sequence of thoughts and emotions in your system and then undo it by reasoning out the whole process with your intelligence.

Once you understand that jealousy is like a shadow without an object, you will realize how absurd it is and how much it has tormented you. Getting liberation from jealousy is a great liberation in one’s life.

Also, don’t condemn the object of your jealousy. Just by condemning the object of jealousy, you will not be liberated from jealousy itself, because the moment you start condemning, it means that there is a wound inside, which you are trying to cover up.

By condemning the object of jealousy, you might be liberated from that particular object of jealousy, but you will simply get fixed onto another object of jealousy, that’s all! It is like saying ‘sour grapes’ and moving on to another vineyard! So, trying to overcome the object of jealousy is not the solution. You need to work on the subject that is you.

Always remember: If you feel that you are holding an emotion that you wish to get rid of, something that you feel is not conducive to your growth, don’t resist that emotion. When you resist it, you will only be empowering it more. When you say, “I should not get jealous,” you will be giving the same power to the word ‘jealous’ as you give to the words ‘I should not’.

Therefore don’t say things like this. Instead, say to yourself, “Let me be always compassionate towards everyone.” Don’t use the word ‘jealous’ at all. By negating the emotion, you will not achieve what you want. Say something totally positive in the same context, that’s all.

Also, instead of avoiding or running away from jealousy, live it through with total awareness. When you try to avoid it, it will confront you at some other time with more intensity than before. Remember one thing with deep awareness: Jealousy is not your true nature. Society taught you to be jealous.

Just believe that jealousy is not you, that is enough. Then automatically, you will laugh at it instead of being involved in it. When you are able to laugh at it, it means you have started witnessing it instead of being a part of it. The moment you become a witness, it becomes easy to go beyond anything.

Also, if you see that the whole of Existence is nothing but a Divine play, you will be able to see that this so-called jealous feeling is also a divine play and has no reality in itself. Just see jealousy objectively instead of being caught in it. It will automatically lose its power over you.

If you understand that you are unique and there is no one in this world like you, the comparing nature in you will become meaningless and you will automatically stop feeling jealous. Just try to understand that Existence loves everyone and everything equally.

Yes…

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

Words from the Master

It is very important that you learn to live with your own body. The moment you think that another’s body or another’s dimensions are more attractive, you create a gap between yourself and your body.

I have seen people who have photographs of male or female models in the walls of their rooms and do physical exercises to attain the body structure of the model. Be very clear: When you think that another’s body is more beautiful, you create a distance between you and you.

All these unconscious ways of looking at another’s body creates undesirable side effects in your Being. None of us deeply love our body. We carry it like a load that’s all. It is like a boarding and lodging concept to us. We are never inside our body because we hate it. We are everywhere else except in our bodies. We therefore have a continuous uneasiness in us and are ready to burst at any time.

For example: If your driver does something minor, you explode effortlessly. At work, you are continuously in an irritable mood. Don’t think the reasons for these lie with the people around you. People tell me, “Swamiji, all my workers are so inefficient and that is why I get irritated.” Please understand: This is not the reason for your irritability. You are not at ease with your body and that is what causes the uneasiness and irritation in your system. It is a very subtle reason and that is why it is difficult to perceive it.

You continuously want to change your measurement or your dimensions. Understand that your body is a gift from God. Thinking that you are not enough unto yourself is the first damage you do to yourself.

Yes…any questions?

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

Guru Poornima -- Offer Gratitude to the Master!

OFFER YOUR GRATITUDE TO THE MASTER!

What is Bhiksha? Why do we offer Bhiksha to the Master?

Bhiksha is a disciples offering to the Guru. It may be anything - flowers, fruits, money, rice, sponsoring for ashram activities, offering puja, precious items, or anything else. The material gifts one gives are symbolic of the 'ahamkara' (ego) of the disciple; which is the only thing the guru asks for - the limited identity of the disciple, so he may leave it behind and grow into the limitlessness of the Supreme.

But how many know the way?

In the external act of placing what one considers important to oneself at the guru's feet, one gives a bit of oneself to a Higher Source. In giving one feels lighter within, less limited. Those whose identities center around their wealth, keep money before him. Those who identify with their emotional selves give him their tears, those who identify themselves as being ritualistic perform the rites as in the shastras. Everyone gives a bit of themselves in the external act of Guru Bhiksha.

This is the only day the Master accepts anything that's given to him!

This simple act of giving is said to burn many lives of accumulated karma. Just like sunlight can burn a piece of paper if we place a magnifying glass in front of it, ones karmas can get burnt away in the presence of an enlightened master who is the bridge between you and the universal consciousness that we all call God!

Online facility for offering bhiksha will be made available from today onwards, so we have the time to acquire the items to be offered to Swamiji on Guru Purnima
CLICK HERE TO OFFER.

Words from the Master

Alright, now…let us talk some more on jealousy! Jealousy as you all know, arises out of comparison. When we are unable to bear the excellence of others in any aspect, we start feeling jealous. There are ever so many reasons why we get jealous.

For example, the moment you see that another person is more beautiful than you, you are unable to bear it. You start feeling terrible inside yourself. And you feel that it is natural that you must feel jealous because that person is more beautiful than you.

First of all understand: God is an artist, not an engineer. If he was an engineer, he would have made every woman or every man with the same mould. He would have probably made every woman with the mould of Aishwarya Rai, former Miss World! She is considered to be a very beautiful woman, is it not? And he would have made every man in the mould of Hrithik Roshan or Shah Rukh Khan!

But God is not an engineer. He is an artist. He has made everyone in a unique way.
You are beautiful enough unto yourself. Every Being is beautiful. With what scale are you measuring beauty? There is no scale. It is all your own ideas and concepts. And just think: Even if your so-called cinema idol is beautiful, can you enjoy a single cup of tea through his or her form?

Please understand that you are beautiful enough. When you start longing for other people’s bodies, you create a wedge inside yourself. You create a split personality inside yourself. You start hating yourself.

Do you know, the eyes that don’t linger on another’s body have a certain beauty and innocence in them? Have faith in what God has done to you. It is only when you don’t have that faith, you try to update yourself by indulging in all sorts of nonsensical methods. When you accept yourself completely, a certain grace comes to you. This grace is far more superior to your so-called beauty.

See, physical beauty is one thing while grace is another. Physical beauty can be achieved by any means. These days, you have ever so many methods of achieving physical beauty - beauty packs, plastic surgeries, and various other surgical methods. But grace is something that comes when there is tremendous confidence and calmness in you; when there is no craving in you; when you are completely at ease with your body.

When you enjoy yourself totally, a certain grace happens in you and you will appear more beautiful than some of the most so-called beautiful people around you. You will then become a trendsetter.

When I went to America for the first time, the officers at the airport asked me how people would listen to me if I spoke wearing this saffron robe! I told them, “Give me one week and I will make this a fashion in America!” A leader is one who has totally accepted himself. When you accept yourself, you become a unique flower, and tremendous freedom and confidence will happen in you. All your guilt and hate about your body will be replaced by pure confidence and grace.

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

Words from the Master

How many successful businessmen today are facing what is known as Depression of Success? They have achieved everything they wanted; they have realized their own dreams, borrowed dreams, everything. But they don’t feel fulfilled; there is a void in them.

They start wondering what for they ran so much. The desires and strong feelings that goaded them on in their rat race are no longer there. They are confused about themselves. The grip they had on themselves in their days of business suddenly seems to weaken.

This is because they ran without awareness, without stopping to give an appointment to themselves, without any self-inquiry. As a result, when they stop running or when suddenly they can’t run anymore, they fall back into themselves and suddenly find that they are out of synch or dis-eased with their own Being, and this is what becomes ‘depression’ or ‘disease’.

When you fall into depression of success, you can resort to three ways. One is, resorting to drugs – addiction that will lead to further depression. The second way out is suicide – which is escapism. The third way out is meditation – looking inward for the solution. The intelligent ones take the third way out.

A self-enquiry can be the way to bail you out of this depression. The problem is inside, while you search for a solution outside. You have neglected your Being for such a long time and the depression that you feel is actually the call of your Being. That is why again and again, Masters have given ever so many techniques to center yourself in your inner core and merely function in your periphery.

When this same thing is told to you when you are at the peak of your career, you will not be willing to pay attention, because you have enough energy, all the energy that you have come with, to face the downsides of off-centric behaviors. Once your energy starts waning, you will feel that something is wrong somewhere. That something is what Masters try to tell you again and again.

Albert Einstein, the great Physicist was on his deathbed.
There were some close people sitting around him.
One of them asked him what he would like to be reborn as if ever he was reborn.
Everyone expected him to say that he would like to be reborn as an even greater scientist or something like that.
Einstein replied, “If ever I would be reborn, I would like to be reborn as a plumber.”

He felt that he had achieved all that was to be achieved, but what for he achieved, he had not achieved. He gave the world great truths but felt that his whole life had become a great lie. During his last days, he felt that all through his life, he was caught up in the outer world incidents and he had missed the deep connection with Existence.

This is why he says that he wishes to be reborn as a plumber and not as a scientist once again. Even when you are caught in the peak of activity in the outer world, don’t allow yourself to slip into becoming a machine. This is an easy task for a spiritual person and a difficult task for a materialistic person.

You see, in this whole process of comparing and running, you actually become a machine. Much of your daily activities becomes unconscious. You are able to drive a car without even being aware that you are driving it. You become a machine just like the car.

Right from brushing your teeth early in the morning to going to bed, you work like a programmed robot, with absolutely no awareness of your Self. You become efficient in all that you do no doubt, but you have lost the humanness in you! You have gone so far away from the purpose of taking birth on planet Earth. You are so disconnected from your Being!

When you are in continuous awareness, you will not only be able to do things efficiently but you will also do things with totality, with a sense of fulfillment because you – the microcosm, will be in tune with the macrocosm or Existence; you will fly with roots on planet Earth. When you fly without this, you are forever in the fear of falling down any moment. So understand, working with awareness not only increases your efficiency but also ensures that you don’t stray from the purpose of your Being.

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