Bringing Happiness To Others

If you think it is a bondage, it becomes a bondage. If you consider it as service or seva, it will not feel like bondage. If someone tells you, you have to do this work, then it seems like a bondage, but if you do on your own and if you do it with your heart then you will keep doing it.

In our ashram, we have to tell some people to get some rest. We have to tell a lot of them to take rest as they put in their heart and soul. And there are some people who don’t do anything. So we cannot have the same solution for everyone. For some people, we have to tell them to do some work, and for some we have to tell them to stop and relax a bit.

The mind is the reason for the bondage, and mind is the reason for liberation. If your mind is happy, doing anything gives you pleasure. But if your mind is upset and heavy, then nothing seems to create an interest.

You cannot give anyone pleasure or sadness. It is everyone’s fate to receive what is destined for them. But that should not prevent you from bringing happiness to others. Do not refrain from making efforts on your part.

No, it is not compulsory. It is your choice.

You be a light to yourself. Our body is like the wick and consciousness is the light, that is important. But it is nice to keep a little ritual at home, lighting a lamp or doing some ritual creates an atmosphere. It is done only for that, not to please God. It brings a certain serenity in the environment.

This is one of the five eternal secrets. You don’t ask me -- 'Why do unripe fruits fall off trees', or 'Why do buds fall out without blossoming'. It is a part of nature. Let us do all that we can to prevent such things, like the gardener who does all he can to stop the small coconuts from falling before they mature.

Due to disease, due to whatever reason things happen, but beyond all this there is one more step, and that is of karma. Karma is very deep, if you go deeper into it, it is mind boggling. This whole phenomenon of life is an eternal continuum and it is programmed to come at a certain time and leave at another time. All that we can do is to try to prevent mortality and then leave the rest to the divine law.
You cannot say in the beginning itself that I have left it to the divine law, and do not do anything about it. As human beings it is in our nature to do whatever we can to save.

What we see in this world is just the tip of an iceberg, let us keep it that way. There is a lot we don’t know, there is a lot which is much deeper, vaster and wider. Today scientists say that there are millions of worlds. There are millions and trillions of Suns.

Why do you want to do that? It is because you are tired of this. So that is why I say -- if you get into meditation, you will find peace.

When you are playing, if you get tired you go home and rest. When you feel rested you are ready to play again. When someone who is playing is tired they need rest. They get some rest and then go out to play again. This is what liberation is.
We have come here (to this world) to play. The one who is liberated likes to come back again. This is what Shankarcharya also said in Bhaja Govindam -- “My house is up in the heaven, called Surataru, here I have just come to play for a while".

What is needed today is conversion from the head to the heart and not from one religion to another. When you convert from one religion to another, you start comparing this is good, that is not good. If you are a spiritual person, you take wisdom from everywhere and honor everybody and walk your path. That is what the ancient tradition is all about -- let knowledge flow to us from every side. That is open mindedness.

This is the cause of terrorism in the world today. People think only their God is true God and every other God is false. They are creating so much havoc. .

Let me tell you about a Guruji in Delhi. This man was a Sipahi (soldier) in the army. In 1971, in the India-Pakistan war, he got shot in the neck. After the bullet shot him he got unconscious and he got enlightened. He had all the knowledge about Tattva Gyan.

In those days I was a very young boy of 19 years of age, and he used to give me a lot of respect and used to call me Yogiraj. I used to feel very shy. He used to treat me like a big person and talk all about knowledge.

There used to be a lot of house flies and any one would feel averse to these flies. All he would says is, "Rehne do (let it be)". That one word 'Let it be' can change your whole attitude. That was a key thing. So to avoid aversion we need to meditate, we need to rest. Both craving and aversion can be overcome by meditation and by becoming still.