It is impossible to have world peace without individual peace. Individual happiness brings collective happiness. Society devoid of the individual is impossible.
Peace is within the individual, in one’s mind and in one’s heart. It is impossible to have peace in the family if the individual is not peaceful, and it is impossible to have peace in society if families are not harmonious or peaceful. If there is no peace in each family it is impossible to have peace in society, and societies make the world. So the basic unit of world peace is individual peace. That which brings peace to the individual is wisdom. Devoid of wisdom there is no peace in an individual. Despite having all amenities, equipment, food, entertainment, comforts. None of these really bring peace. It is the wisdom of a broad vision and seeing life in context with the vast universe that brings peace.
The funny thing is, even if a small percentage of people on the planet are really peaceful they become peacemakers. Peace is as contagious as any contagious disease like cold or cough. Peace is viral! I tell you, genuine peace and wisdom is contagious.
Music is harmonious sound. If there is harmony inside then music is a burden, but when there is no harmony on the inside then definitely the outer harmony of the music can create inner peace and harmony.
For a meditator, for a yogi, music feels a little jarring because he or she has tasted something more finer than the harmony of the music -- that is the rhythm of silence. That is what the ancient yogis called the one hand clapping. The cosmic resonance, the primordial sound, all these names are given to that harmony deep within which is essentially silence.
You can never generalize these things. There are all types of situations, all types of people, all types of cultures in the world. People cannot live without culture. Culture may change but you cannot live in a society without a culture. If some society claims 'We are a society without culture', I tell you, that is a culture in itself. And it is our duty to protect all the different cultures in the world because they are the world’s heritage.
It is quite natural that the one who does not serve, is the one who is stressed, insecure, self-centred, or without wisdom. If there is a little bit of wisdom, service is spontaneous. If you are well cultured and civilised then service is spontaneous. Nobody has to teach you to do service. No one has to tell you to engage in some service activities.
See what happened during the Chennai floods? No one invited people, "Hey! All of you come and help out". The entire youth of Chennai, not just the youth, all the people of Chennai got together and helped each other. These disasters in some strange manner unite people, unite enemies. Disasters compel people to realize their innate human values. If you are intelligent you don’t wait for a disaster to bring out the best side of you.
I think you should forget about this. Wanting to have humour is itself an obstruction for having humour. It is like someone saying, “I want to sleep, I want to sleep, I want to sleep”. The feverishness of wanting to sleep itself becomes an obstacle. If you are in a hurry to take a nap, it is not going to work. Same way, thinking 'I want to be humorous', is not going to work! Just be relaxed and don’t care about others opinion of you. The formula is don’t worry about what others think of you.
'Brahma' means infinity. 'Charya' means moving in infinity. That means the state of mind that is focused on the whole (infinity) -- in such a mind there is no possessiveness, there is no lust, there is no greed; none of these negative impressions cloud the mind. That is what it exactly means. Abstinence is a result of this; it is a part of it.
See, when you have an examination or something very important to do, when your mind is in that, then the mind is not going to any part of the body, or focusing on some fascination, or sex. You are busy. Your mind is moving towards something bigger. Isn’t that one’s experience? Then you experience moments of Brahmacharya. If you are engaged in something, or when you are in deep love, then also this happens automatically. So Brahmacharya is a happening, it is not a practice per se. It is what happens when your consciousness expands.
Agni mean that consciousness, that energy that envelopes the whole universe -- that consciousness of which you are made up of, of which everything is made of. Many times people say 'The fire in the spirit'. This fire is not a mortal fire, your life itself is fire. Consciousness is the fire.
Flame exists on oxygen, so does your life exists on oxygen. Suppose you are covered in a glass, you will be alive only as long as there is oxygen in it. So your life force is akin to fire.
The mantra is a beautiful prayer that says, " Lead me into a new path. Let me do good things to people in the world. Let all the divine energies in the universe help me, take me along". It is such a beautiful prayer.
Ancient people had such deep wisdom. Even in prayers they included everyone. Even the Gayatri Mantra which is considered the mother of all mantras says, "May the divine inspire my intellect and inspire my life", because your life is based on thought. If the thought process is inspired by the Divinity then there can be no mistakes, there can be no regrets. There is no suffering.
Only with a scientific approach can you see that there are different wave lengths and vibrations on this planet.
Who are you? You are only a frequency analyzer. Your brain is a frequency analyzer. It is able to capture only certain frequencies, isn’t it? Your perception is limited to a definite bandwidth. It cannot go beyond that. Suppose you get the ability to perceive beyond your perceptual ability, you can see many things which you don’t see otherwise.
See, what is darkness for you is not darkness for a cat or an owl. An owl’s bandwidth is bigger than yours. An owl can see more than you. Devatas are not some people wearing crowns and sitting up there in heaven, they are a manifestation of consciousness -- just like the seven colours present in sunlight. In sunrays there is only one colour, but when you disperse the sunrays, you get seven different colours. Similarly, your consciousness has many abilities, many forms and many intricacies. These intricate mechanisms of consciousness are called different Devatas.
It is mind boggling when you go deep into spiritual science. You have to have a scientific temperament, only then you can go into it. Just belief system will not work. There was a scientist who came here from Colorado. He had a titanium radar with which he could measure the energy level. So during Navratri, he measured the energy levels at the time of when different chantings and different invocations were happening. He showed us with colourful pictures that when different chantings were being done, energy was dawning in the space. Very distinctive patterns were seen from one chanting to another. It was really fascinating. Kirlian photographers took some pictures. So when different Devata’s were invoked, the whole colour in the hall changed. So in a scientific way, you can really explore and understand much more than by just believing.
