If there is water available but no one is thirsty, who would drink water? Isn’t it? Similarly, the questions ‘Who am I?’ ‘What do I want?’ should first dawn in our minds.
What does everyone want? Everyone wants to be peaceful, happy and contented. Who doesn’t want to be happy? Now, what is the way to be happy?
If the mind keeps wavering between the past and the future, how can it be peaceful? We need to put effort to bring our mind to the present moment. This is called Yoga.
Maharishi Patanjali has said ‘Yoga Chitta Vrutti Nirodha’ (Yoga is the act of restraining or freeing the mind from the clutches of its modulations). There are five types of modulations of the mind, which can be painful or not painful.
The first modulation is Pramaana - always thinking if this is right or wrong, wanting proof for everything. There are 3 kinds of proof the mind looks for- Pratyaksha (experiential proof), Anumaana (inferential proof) and Agama (scriptural proof).
The second modulation is Viparyaya - wrong understanding. We spend three-fourths of our time in Viparyaya. Either our opinions about people will be wrong or their opinions about us will be wrong. You think one person is bad and another person is good, but your opinions change after some time. Not knowing things as they are is Viparyaya.
The third modulation is Vikalpa – imagination, hallucination. It is imagining something that is non-existent. Some people imagine that something has happened to them and become afraid. A twenty-year-old youth had come to me. Though he was healthy, he felt that he had a lot of diseases. Doctors checked him and found that everything was fine, but he still wouldn’t believe it. Illusion about the existence of something that is non-existent is Vikalpa.
The fourth modulation is Nidra – Sleep. If you are not doing anything, you feel sleepy. Nowadays, people sleep even when they are working! A lot of people in the parliament are seen sleepy and yawning.
The fifth modulation is Smruti – Memory, remembering all that has happened in the past.
We have to become free from these five modulations. Only then does the mind become pleasant. How is that possible? It is possible through Pranayama and by being aware that all that has happened so far is like a dream. You brushed your teeth, took bath and ate breakfast in the morning. At this moment, look back and see, you will feel that they are like a dream.
Similarly, you celebrated Diwali and Ugadi last year and many other festivals in the past. You had many worries, challenging times and pleasant times. You have passed through all of them and come here. This moment, how does all that appear to you? (Response from the audience - Like a dream!) This is Vairagya (dispassion).
Similarly, some more decades will pass, and some days will be good and some days will not be so good. We need to observe ourselves if we are able to keep our mind balanced through the ups and downs. This is Yoga. ‘Tada Drusthu Swarupe Awasthanam’ – the seer reposes in the self.
Yoga is not just doing asanas (postures); asana is one of the limbs of yoga. The benefit of asanas is that the body becomes healthy and strong, the breath becomes quiver-free, the mind becomes pleasant, the intellect becomes sharp, self-realization happens in the consciousness, and intuition improves. There are countless benefits. That is why we must do Yoga and meditation for a short while every day.
Today, people from all corners of the world have benefitted from this and have come here (to the satsang venue). There are also thousands of people watching the webcast everywhere.
There is a lot of ignorance everywhere in our country. There are a lot of superstitions. Some people believe that one should not keep a Shiva Linga at their home and it should be kept in a temple. Who said that Shiva Linga cannot be kept at home?
A few other people cut a flower into a few pieces and keep a piece of the flower on the photos of a few Gods. They think that if they keep a flower on one God’s photo, the other Gods would get angry! God is one but the names are many. Why do we get ourselves into this mess? Just as the light from the sun gives rise to seven colors, all the forms belong to the same Divinity. Do not keep such differences in the mind.
God doesn’t want the coconuts that you offer. Our lives must be like the coconut. The shell covering around the coconut prevents any harm to the coconut, even if it falls from a great height. It acts as a shock absorber. Our behavior must be like that. However a person behaves with us, we must always have good behavior from our side. We must not react if someone criticizes us. We must not have the ‘Tit for tat’ attitude. If the shoe bites our feet, we must not bite the shoe!
If someone is behaving badly, we must understand why that person is behaving badly. If we react and also behave badly, it is not a sign of intelligence. People who react like this land up in jail and regret their behavior.
We must remove ignorance and blind beliefs. Go to villages and tell people to send their children to school. Karnataka should have one hundred percent literacy.
The other type of ignorance is to convert to another religion. There are a lot of people who are converting their religion because they get money for converting or they are told that by converting to this religion, you will be relieved of all your sins and cured of all your diseases. All religions talk about the same message of love.
In all the traditions of our country, they have spoken some very important knowledge. The knowledge discussed in Basavanna’s Vachanas (Basavanna-a twelfth century Kannada philosopher) cannot be found anywhere else. A very fortunate thing about being born in Karnataka is you are endowed with the gift of Vachanas (works of Basavanna). There is a lot of precious knowledge in the Vachanas. For knowledge to transform into experience, you have to meditate.
We have to fight against injustice. Corruption has reached such alarmingly high levels that it makes one feel that it cannot get worse than this. A CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) officer said that twenty-four lakh crore rupees of Indian black money is in international banks. We say that India is a poor country and invite people to set up businesses here. Some people in our country take the money from here, deposit it into international banks and rule the country as well. Innocent people get fooled by their talks and keep on electing such people again and again.
If all the black money comes back, there would be no poverty. Some people advise me ‘Guruji, you should stick to the spiritual path and not get into politics’. Tell me, should I keep quiet or should I speak about this? (Loud answer from the audience - Yes, please tell us!).
Other nations are ready to help in providing details about the black money stored in their banks, but our government is not giving the consent.
Corruption is everywhere, from villages to the central government. It takes so much time and effort to get a file cleared, to get a No-Objection certificate. There are good officials and politicians too, but they have become helpless. If this situation has to change, all of us have to take a pledge that we will neither give nor accept bribe. If any officials are sitting here, take a pledge that you will not take bribe for at least a year. If someone asks for a bribe, go in a group of around ten people. If our country has to improve, this is the only way.
Elect good candidates during an election. It is wrong to use money power or muscle power. It is not hard-earned money that they give. It is our money that they give. This should not fool us. It is not that all politicians are bad. There are good officials and politicians too, who need our support.
We must rise above the limits of caste and religion and work towards the improvement of the society. We must be ready to support whoever has faced injustice, irrespective of their caste or religion. Only then, we can be said to be devotees. A devotee of God also has devotion towards the country. A patriotic person should become a devotee of God, only then can the devotion towards the country be considered as authentic.
We must remove the lack that is in our country. All the farmers here must do Organic farming. We have experts who can help you get a good price for your produce. They will also help you with chemical free farming. We must protect the seeds, water and the soil from getting contaminated with poisonous chemicals. The prices of vegetables increase and come down drastically in short periods of time. This is due to lack of proper planning.
We need to remove uncleanliness and unhygenic conditions from our environment. There is so much dirt and filth everywhere. The mind and the surroundings must be clean. In other countries, the surroundings are clean. In our country, though the minds of people are clean, the surroundings are dirty. Have you seen, no animal or bird pollutes the environment? All forests are clean irrespective of the number of animals there. However, human beings pollute themselves as well as the surroundings. Do not think this is the job of the government. We need to work with them to keep our surroundings clean. Spend two hours every fortnight. Make a group of fifty to hundred people and clean up your neighborhood.
Participate in satsangs. This will purify you within as well as transform the atmosphere. Seva (service) brings outer cleanliness and meditation brings inner cleanliness. Both are needed.
There are records saying that the Britishers took away nine hundred shiploads of gold from our country. Do you know who built the first airplane? It was Subbaraya Sharma Shastri from Anekal district in Bangalore. He went to Mumbai and flew the first airplane there. The British put him and Navroji, the person who provided the finances, into jail. Wright brothers flew a plane thirty years after this. There is a lot of such knowledge about India, which is available on BharatGyan.com.
The Britishers took away so much gold then; now it is our own countrymen who have kept a lot of black money in international banks. If we get the black money back, there would be no need to pay tax. Three generations can live in abundance the whole of their lives. I think a big revolution needs to happen for this.
We seem to have lost the ability to think about our country. We get stuck up with petty promises of name, fame and position. If we focus on the big picture, about the well-being of our country, then our well-being is included too. Why are we forgetting this? If the foundation of spirituality is not there, our lives will be very dull and dry.
During my school days, there were Subashitas (Sanskrit couplets) and other great knowledge in our curriculum. All of them have been removed now, in many states. This needs to be taught to our children. We need to bring these back.
In Madhya Pradesh, the idea of including Bhagavad Gita in the curriculum was opposed. They filed a case saying that it belongs to a specific religion. Fortunately, the High court said that the Bhagavad Gita just talks about how one should progress in their life. Our children should be taught this knowledge. Only then can we achieve a violence free society.
Today is Valentine’s Day.
You know, in the ancient society, in the ancient times, they never said, ‘This is Father’s Day, this is Mother’s Day.’ They never dedicated one day in a year to fathers and mothers, but they said, ‘everyday dedicate some time to your father and mother’. And so, as soon as you wake up in the morning, the first thing you have do is to give a few minutes in the first hour as father’s minutes and mother’s minutes.
Then make the nature your valentine. Consider the sun in the morning as your valentine. And in the evening, when the sun sets, it is so romantic that when you look at the whole creation, the whole nature, you feel the Divinity is your valentine. So, there is a ‘valentine’ hour or minute in every day.
So, in every home children should think, ‘This is my time with the parents.’ It could be half an hour or a few minutes. Children should start spending half an hour or one hour with the parents everyday in the morning or evening. At least if one meal everyone shares together, then you would have successfully celebrated your Father’s Day and Mother’s Day.
Similarly, when you wake up and see the whole creation is my valentine, the country is my valentine, Divinity is my valentine, knowledge is my valentine, then Valentine’s Day never ends for you. All 365 days is Valentine’s Day. That is how I feel – everyday is Valentine’s Day.
Of course in the Ashram everyday is Valentine’s Day, and for a devotee it is so obvious. This is just an excuse when you say, ‘Today is a Valentine’s Day’, but if anyone looks at your faces, they will know that you are in a perpetual valentine minute. There is so much love oozing out of everyone’s faces, everyone’s behavior. Looking at your nature people will say, ‘Oh, maybe you are celebrating Valentine’s Day today!’ Yes?! So, the poor persons celebrate festivals only once a year, because he can afford only that, but the rich ones celebrate everyday and every minute. And you are all so rich. Rich with the spiritual knowledge and rich with this beautiful wisdom.
I am saying ‘Beautiful wisdom’ but usually, wisdom is considered to be very tough, very difficult and very hard to achieve and beauty is something rare. But I would say, it is beautiful wisdom; wisdom for the head and beauty for your heart.
