I’m not a philosopher. I’m not a man who has gone
above my basic animal instincts, but neither have I lived in them nor in the
philosophy. I’ve accepted my drawbacks as a sincere man. I never say that these worldly pleasures are
everything, nor can I say that philosophy is everything. I cannot say, just
pray to the Lord and everything is all right either. But also I cannot say that
no God exists because I don’t know. I cannot give logic to everything. But it
does not mean I can never ask you to give up logic and reasoning. All this is
essential for the human being. My academic education ended with the 10th
grade. What I studied is from the library and from my life. Of course I have
done some penance, but I cannot claim that it was everything. All this which I
negated or affirmed becomes our life. All this is useful to the human life. We
can give up nothing. All that which is really useful for the human being, I want
the human being to be happy. As an evolved human being, I want you to know that
these subjects individually cannot fulfill the needs of the human being. When
they are all put together, then it can be done.
“Experience is
a comb which a man gets when he becomes bald,” says Emerson.
But I had a comb prior to my baldness, that’s why I
wanted to give this comb to the fellow beings those have the hair. I want every
human being to be happy on this earth, because it’s a beautiful planet. God
never created problems; it is the stupid human being who creates it. That’s why
I want you, all people, to enjoy the truth and fragrance of this beautiful
nature. I have experienced that no scripture can fulfill your desires.
These Communists and Socialists say the body is
everything. They say if the people are given bread and butter they will be
happy. They are the followers of Darwin, a great fool. He started saying that
there was nothing on this earth, and then slowly the five elements took place.
First, underwater creation started; a microorganism was born from fish, then
fish became frog, then frog became monkey.
Finally, from monkey, this stupid man came out. And with this absolute
development, nothing more can be done, Darwin
says. And these Communists and Socialists say that all men are equal because
they are developed to the maximum extent. No, every individual’s needs,
feelings, and thoughts are totally different.
“It may be
that men are not equal in all respects, but they are equally men,” says Hugh
Gaitskell.
All are not equally tall, so you want to make them
equal height. You want to cut off their limbs. You cannot give numbers to the
individual and count them like robots. They’re human beings, live beings. They
have their emotional and psychological needs. So be careful. Never count them
like sheep.
Dr. Freud found some diseases which occurred in
human beings that can never be cured by medicine, and from there, psychology
started. His disciples, like Jung, built a big castle of psychology. They dove
into the ocean of psychology, the human mind, and searched for the troubles and
drawbacks of the human being. Why and what is happening to these people? That’s
why they wanted to establish a good relation of human beings in this society.
They felt that is the way to peace in this society. It is a good movement, but
imagine, almost in every street of the United States, you can easily find
one psychologist and they are treating thousands and thousands of patients. But
still they could not reach a conclusion why could they not heal all the people.
Then in 1913, Dr. Freud formed a society of
psychiatrists, but his disciples Carl Gust Jung and Alfred Adler divided from
him. They could not tune in with the philosophy of Dr. Freud, that’s why their
own propagations are different. The world of psychologists could not come to
any conclusion. And everyday a new theory is being proposed.
Yes, for anything, there should be a proper gauge.
If one proposes a kilogram as a standard gauge of an object and someone else
says it’s a half gauge, how can we live together? For one man, one mile is not
even one mile. It is not even half a mile. So how can we tune together? How can
we live together in the society? We need to have a standard scale in the
society. So for that, we should have an equal proper gauge for everyone. Take
for example, one day I did not allow Bhairavi into the meditation room during
her menses. Her feelings got hurt. She thinks that during her menses, a natural
phenomenon is going on which cannot be stopped, and that shouldn’t prevent
anyone from worshipping anywhere and anytime. In suppressed Indian culture, a
woman is considered impure and cannot do so many things, such as enter a
temple. One day, a woman told Bhairavi that God is angry at her during her menses,
so that is why she couldn’t participate in the fire worship, and again Bhairavi
was confused. So there is one scale that Bhairavi lives by, one scale that that
woman lives by, and there is another scale in society. Me, I wanted to stay out
of that situation and leave it up to the Absolute Scale. So I said, “Let’s ask
our Guru, the Absolute Scale, and let him decide.” So I did, and he said
Bhairavi is not allowed in the meditation room during her menses. As his
servant, we cannot ask questions why, and there are so many scales which we
don’t know about. To fulfill this, the subject of logic came out, but it was
misused by the ancient Greeks. They started thinking “I’m here, that’s why I’m
thinking,” or “I’m thinking, because of that, I’m here.” This is stupidity. The
human being’s emotions and thoughts are the gauge for one’s truth, what they
think is right.
Truth is that all of this world is impermanent.
There is only sorrow, and really no bliss in it. And as long as we’re holding
on to it, we will be suffering. And unless we find the ultimate goal, which is
not at all changing, it is truth in itself. We have to attain it, that’s what
philosophy says. We never find the Upanishad rishis, the ancient seers,
neglecting this body or negating it. They never escaped from this world, and
they had families. They took up the responsibilities of their families. All
this false thinking started from Buddha and Shankaracharya. They said that
those who are totally indulged in the senses are not trying to find the absolute
truth. These people neglected the total body and its needs, and spoke about the
absolute reality. Your mind is the cause of the bondage and the freedom. Based
on this, nobody is trying to come out of it. Following this false philosophy,
so many people are stuck in this stage.
That’s why I wrote an essay in this book called
“Satyam Sivam Sundaram.” Certainly you can enjoy this life when you are in your
senses, but you have to grow out of the senses. In another essay, “Righteous
Thought and Perfect Talk,” I have shown you how proper thinking can lead you if
this logic is extended to the maximum extent. I discussed about logic, so don’t
question anything in these essays I did. Even this will pass away in that
essay. One can then relax because everything is impermanent. “Stop Asking
Questions.” That is another essay, questioning everything. “The Art of
Distributing Happiness.” In this essay you will find the main spring from which
all the happiness comes out. In another essay, “Not Too Much,” you can find the
analysis of all that which I have told till now. “Russell’s Way,” is the big
chapter in my book. He gave some analysis, but I changed it as per my time and
society.
All the people cannot go through all these
experiences, and they cannot understand it all easily. That’s why I’m trying to
help them come out of these limitations. If one can understand it and digest
it, I hope that they will come out of all their sorrow. Listen to this story
about King George VI’s wife, Queen Victoria Elizabeth, who went to Toronto in 1939. They
distributed white flowers upon her arrival in all the hospitals.
So many years later, Lotta Denca, a woman, went to Toronto in a taxi to see
her son, daughter-in-law and granddaughter. The taxi driver was angry, and he
was driving his car very fast. Lotta Denca told him to drive it slow, “It’s my
son’s birthday, and I’m taking some gifts to him.”
The driver said, “Today is my birthday too, but
nobody gave me any gifts.” She looked at him and felt very bad, because nobody
is there to look after him.
Denca said, “You are exactly the same age as my
son.”
He said, “I’m born the same date as your son at St.
Michael’s Hospital. On the same day, in the same hospital, my mother and you
gave birth to your son and myself.”
“Did you know
about this?” she asked him.
In a sorrowful face, he said, “I lost my mom in my
childhood, and I don’t know anything about it.”
She said to him, “Queen Victoria Elizabeth came and
distributed white flowers to all of us. It was such a beautiful day.”
Immediately he said, “Oh, I can remember that. My
mother used to keep a dry, white flower in the bible. Maybe she kept it as her
sweet memory.” That woman gave a gift of sweet memory to him, which he
collected for his own son. He was happy.
In this world there are so many people who are in
pain, agony, and suffering. Just a sweet word, a smile, a small touch, and
compassion in the eyes, if you show it to them, they will be happy. You don’t
have to go through so many books for this. That’s what I wanted to say in this
book, nothing else.
The past American president, Abraham Lincoln, went
to a small village and gave a lecture. A peasant came up to him and said, “Mr.
Lincoln, I couldn’t understand all of what you said, but I liked it.”
Lincoln started laughing, “Even my
dog has the same problem. She wants to catch all the flies. Sometimes she
catches them, but she cannot get all of them. You don’t have to be depressed
about it. Whatever you can catch, is enough for you.”
All those who read my book may not be able to understand
all of what I wrote, but whatever they can catch is enough for me. I cannot
claim that this book is complete and that it can reveal all the secrets of
nature. It is my experience and I wanted to type it in my own words. If you can
make use of it, I will be happy. If at all you cannot, then I wrote one essay
in this book, “All This is Untrue,” and the truth is revealed. If you can make
use of this book, and can attain some happiness, I will be the first one to be
happy. If you find it’s all useless, and if you scold me or curse me, I will
not be unhappy, because it has nothing to do with my happiness. I am in my happiness, and no one can disturb
it. I have learned the art of living.
“Continuous
work till you are tired and total control of your mind leads to realization on
the intellectual level. When the love is in the heart, you surrender your ego,
and no “I”-ness remains, all that makes us beautiful human beings. Be happy,”
says Maitreya.
