You will have to bear the
fruits of your actions

Here, in the Ashram today, somebody stole seven sandalwood trees. The trees were cut down and stolen between one and four in the morning from our Veda Pathshala (Vedic school), where the Veda students study. So, the Ashram authorities were very disturbed today about it. Even though there is so much security and so many security guards. Everybody together planted those trees and nurtured them and those trees have been cut from their roots and taken away.
So, what should be done?
Just yesterday in the newspaper there was an article that said the best sandalwood trees are found in Karnataka, and 65% of trading of sandalwood takes place like this, illegally. The sandalwood thieves are real experts. They came to the ashram and cut the trees in such a way that there was not a single sound. So, seven trees have been cut like this yesterday and stolen.

If something has been stolen from your house naturally you will feel sad, isn’t it?
What happens then? You become angry at the thief who is not visible to you, and you don’t know who the thief is. So what happens to your mind when you are angry at someone who is not there in front of you? You get a headache and you feel restless, and you do not feel good.
So I said, theft has been happening since ages.
This is our karma bhoomi (land of actions). We have all come here to perform our karmas. Some do good deeds and depart and some do bad deeds and depart. Everyone departs, but they bear the fruits of their actions. A thief will definitely pay for his actions sometime or the other.
When we do good deeds, we know for sure that we will reap the fruits of them. So this is not a new thing.
That is why even in the Rudrabhishek, we say, ‘Namo Vanchate Parivanchate Stayunam Pataye Namo Namo, Nishanginishudhimate Taskaranam Pataye Namo Namah’
‘Taskar’ means thief. So the chant says, ‘You are also the Lord of people who are engaged in deceiving and stealing’, which means stealing has been going on for a very long time; from ages.
Such is the world!

This is karma bhoomi, so whatever deeds you have to do, you will do it here. Do your deeds but know that you will bear the fruits of your deeds.
Now why should you worry about the deeds of another person? A person who commits a mistake will have to bear the fruits of their actions. Are you understanding what I am saying?

In this world there will always be people who do wrong deeds. Even in the ashram, such people are present. They are sitting here, but they criticize the Ashram outside.
People say, ‘Guruji, why don’t you take them out of the Ashram?’
I say, ‘No, they are here to bear the fruits of their actions. If one does something wrong, nobody can to save him. So let them do what they have come here to do.’
Why should we ponder over their mistakes and get tensed? This is being intelligent.
If someone speaks abusive language to you, why do you get tensed? Let him say what he wants to say, he is making his own karmas. If he is using such words, let him use it.
In fact you should say to him, ‘Go ahead and speak what you want. You have come here to do your karma so do it and leave.’
Everyone born on this planet will not go to heaven; some will have to go to hell as well!
Otherwise hell will be empty! (Guruji says laughing)
One who comes here and does wrong deeds will have to go to hell.

When I educate someone, or ask someone not to steal, it is only out of compassion for that person. I never tell anyone not to steal or speak bad words because it hurts me, no!
Nothing and nobody can hurt me.
If you speak bad words you will have to bear the fruits of those actions.
That is why I say speak pleasant words and do not say anything unpleasant. It is not because I feel bad if you speak bad words. Words are words, it does not matter what you speak.
But some people have such behaviour; what can be done?
Whatever wrong deeds one does, he will have to bear the fruits of those actions. That is why it is said that if you are repentant for your mistake, you will not repeat the same mistake again.
You should not be saddened by others’ mistakes. You should understand that they are here to bear the fruits of their karma and that is what they are doing.
You should be compassionate towards the mistakes of others and repentant for your own mistakes. When you are compassionate towards the mistakes of others only then can you educate them. Do you see what I am saying?
If you have committed a mistake, take a sankalpa not repeat that mistake again. Even after this, if you commit the same mistake again and again still hold on to the sankalpa not to repeat the same mistake again. If you are not able to get out of this circle of mistakes even after taking a sankalpa, then pray and surrender it to God. These are the two ways to protect ourselves from our own mistakes.
To protect another from committing a mistake, compassion is required.
‘It will bring you harm, why don’t you understand?’ You will have to say this.
Still if they commit the mistake, what control do you have? In this world nobody has ever been able to stop a person who is destined to commit a mistake. What one has to do, he will do!
Duryodhana had to wage a war. Lord Krishna tried his best to make him understand; not once but three times, even then he could not stop the war. The war took place.
Even then we have to make an effort, knowing that this is our karma bhoomi and we have come here to be free ourselves of our karmas and move ahead.

The other thing is you feel that by doing a mistake you have incurred a loss. Think of others who act even more foolishly and incur even bigger losses for themselves.
Greed also results in losses. Somebody earned fifty lakh rupees and some other person told him, ‘Give me you money and I will multiply your fifty lakhs to two crores’. They believed it and gave away their hard earned money. The person took the money and ran away. Now, this gentleman is crying.
Just yesterday this gentleman in Chandigarh met me and said, ‘Somebody ran away with fifty lakh rupees of mine Guruji. It was my entire life’s earnings’.
I said, ‘It was because of your greed. Never mind, it was karma.’ Do you understand what I am saying? That does not mean that you think it is karma and you leave it, no! Your responsibility is to try and catch him.

So, I gave this solution to everyone here at the Ashram that he had come to do his deed, you don’t worry. When everyone settled down I also said that you must file a report with the police, and also announce a reward of 25,000 rupees for the one who catches the sandalwood thief.

Now if you see, both these solutions seem to be opposing each other. On one hand, we are saying that you must catch the thief and on the other hand we are saying it is his karma, and this is the truth.
If we think that it is everyone’s karma and we don’t make an effort to catch the thief and we sit idle with this thought, this will be our akarmanyata (failure to act). It is our duty to catch the thief. But in your mind know that all this is all just a play of karma; it is the laws of nature that are acting.
You can’t think that there will be no thieves in the world that is not possible.
We need to see how we can be in knowledge and perform our duties at the same time. Some people just hold on to knowledge and don’t do any karma. Some people keep on doing karmas without any knowledge. Both are incomplete. So, take whatever actions you have to take but don’t leave knowledge. I said, ‘If someone has ran away with your fifty lakh rupees, don’t leave him. Find out where he is, but at the same time know that he has done his work, so what is the big deal?’
This way you have to remain balanced in yourself.