LIFE IN A FEW LINES

Somewhere in the midst of the ocean, a wave is born and got stamped as “Hirak”. My childhood passed,
frolicking with other waves.

As I grew, I often bloated with superiority complex whenever I discovered smaller waves in front, but
that short lived pleasure crashed on seeing larger ones behind. Bigger miseries awaited me. There were
storms that struck so bad that they often threatened my own existence. The biggest regret and fear
however, was on finding that all waves are destined to lash on the shore and get destroyed - Some late
and some early, but that fate was sealed for us all.

Many of my companions asked me to believe in an unseen entity called “ocean” that is supposed to help
and protect us. Some projected ocean as a big, old judgemental wave sitting way up somewhere, while
there were many non-believers who rigidly dismissed anything like that.

As a confused being, I looked for answers everywhere. Soon, I discovered an interesting source - But
that turned out to be all questions whose answers had to be worked out by the seeker itself.

Some of the pointers that I found are quite astonishing -

1. When a wave is born, it doesn’t come into the waterworld, it comes out of it.

2. You are not a little wave looking for the entire ocean. You’re rather the entire ocean appearing as the
little wave.

A wave is IN the ocean, FROM the ocean, it IS the ocean.

It remains connected to the ocean no matter whether it remembers the ocean or forgets it.

That you’re a little wave is lower truth that ties you into your fears. That you’re ocean is a higher truth
that liberates you.

2. You’re separate from other waves, if you look from the point of view of a wave. From the perspective
of the ocean, You’re everywhere and everyone.
3. The destruction that you fear is from the point of view of the little wave. From the perspective of the
ocean, it is merely a change of a superficial form. You were never born, nor will you die. Destruction is
creation; end is beginning.

4. All the storms that ravage you are superficial phenomena. There are thousands of miles of peaceful
waters beneath your surface. Therefore, to seek refuge from the storms, the only way out is IN.

Inference -

1. A wave can never find the ocean, for what was never lost can never be found.

2. A wave cannot become the ocean either, for you cannot become what you always were, you can only
BE that.

Therefore, don’t try to become, just BE.

- Concept from Advaita Vedanta lessons, Vedanta Society.

THE DRIVER WHO BECAME HIS CAR

This happened at a time when anyone could own a car for free and the driver used to remain unhurt no
matter how badly devastated a car was. As a result, everyone had a car.

I am Purusha, a driver madly in love with his car. I was so engrossed in driving day in and day out that I
forgot the distinction between me and my car. Soon, I was convinced that “I am my car”. I polished it as
much as possible to keep it beautiful. A little scratch could drive me nuts. I had my car serviced too
frequently to keep it healthy. There was constant insecurity of its malfunctioning. Finally, a constant fear
of car breakdown started gnawing me. I even forgot my true nature as Purusha and regarded my car as
“l.” Surprisingly, everybody else started regarding their respective cars as “I” and identified themselves
with that machine. Every time I met someone, I talked to a car, unaware of the driver inside. The whole
society became car-conscious and the concept of a driver was lost.

One day, my car broke down and I thought I was dead; nevertheless, because of my passion, I brought
another car and started regarding the new one as “I.” The process of shifting from car to car continued
unabated.
The cycle was going pretty long, until I started driving a car called “Dr. Hirak” that helped in fixing
damaged cars. As a result, I used to say, “I am Dr. Hirak.” In this car-time, I found a source that
conceived of something called a “driver” that was separate from his car. Most of my companions
laughed at this nonsense - “I am not my car.”

“Impossible,” Said the intellectual cars, “It’s all mumbo jumbo.” Some even labelled this driver concept it
as “multiple personality disorder of the car.”

Luckily there were a few wise cars of the past that had held that a “driver was doing the driving, not the
cars themselves. When damaged beyond repair, the driver discards the old car and adopts a new one.
Car identification is bondage. Realisation of a driver as distinct from the car is freedom.”

They spoke of a few methods to know my true driver nature -

1. An honest inquiry into the nature of the driver - “Who am I? The car or the one who drives it?”

2. Stillness - Constant driving causes the illusion of being the car as the mind is directed towards the car.
Stopping the car for sometime will turn the mind inwards and re-establish my identity as a driver that is
separate from the car.

3. Devotion to the driver as the truth that drives the car.

4. Selfless service for other cars in trouble - That will melt car-identification and lead to driver-
realisation.

The four paths are supposed to help me realise that my real nature is Purusha who is in charge of a car
called Dr. Hirak.

“What good will it do to me?” was my question.

The answer was - “If the car is in trouble, I will be rest assured that it’s the car, not me. So, it will be
easier to find unbiased solutions as emotional clouding will be eliminated. All fear of car-death will be
annihilated, as the driver remains untouched even when the car goes for recycling.”

The result would be FEARLESSNESS AND TRANSCENDENCE FROM CAR SUFFERING.

- Concept from SAMKHYA YOGA

PATIENTS AND THEIR PILLS

One day, an elderly lady (Ms A) came to the clinic for follow up of neuralgic pain.

Ms A - Dr. Hirak, the pills you prescribed aren’t right for me. Please change them.

Me (with utter surprise) - What’s wrong with those pills? You took them a month ago and reported
complete relief.

Ms A - But the previous ones were bright white. The current ones are dark, like evil.

Me - But they have the same composition and belong to the same brand. It’s just that they might have
changed the look. The composition...

Ms A (interrupting my speech) - I hate darkness. So, change it.

Me - OK

A few days later, another lady (MsB) about half her age visited the clinic with neuralgic pain. She had
been prescribed the same pills and had come for follow up.

Ms B - The medicine worked. The pain is relieved.

Me - You might have noticed that the pill colour has been darkened. Didn’t that bother you?

Ms B - No. As long as the composition remains the same, what’s appearance got to do with this?

LESSONS TO LEARN -

1. Forms and shapes are the superficial manifestations containing an underlying principle. The immature
falls for the manifestations, while the mature seeks the principle.

2. Inner evolution has nothing to do with age or intellectual attainments.

3. Our mind is conditioned to be attracted to bright and repelled to dark. The former is taken to mean
good and the latter, evil. Inner evolution is the peeling out of each mental conditioning that keeps us
biased. At night, we often observe the stars so profoundly that we forget the background. Had it not
been for the black sky, the white stars could never be seen. Similar is the case of a book with black
alphabets over white paper.

- Concept from Advaita Vedanta

(All characters in this story are fictional)

A MOVIE WITH MAYA

One day, Jiva, a friend from a remote mountain village approached me. I asked him for a visit to a film
theatre.

He was quite hesitant at first, for had never ever seen a film before. On repeated coaxing, he agreed.

We set out for a disaster movie, but, a traffic jam badly impeded our speed. When we reached the hall,
the film was already midway.

A scene of skyscrapers caught Jiva’s eyes and he remarked in bewilderment, “Oh, what a wonderful
heavenly city that is, just a stone’s throw away.”

I said, “It’s not real - just a show of light on a screen.”

But he replied, “No Dr. Hirak, these are real big buildings.”

Then the scene shifted to an earthquake as the buildings began to shake.

“Why are everyone sitting like dumb asses?” He shouted, “Let’s run.”

I tried to console him time and again, “It’s Maya - An illusion - just a play of lights on a white screen.” But
every time, his reply was, ”You’re a neurosurgeon not a “baba,” don’t talk like a lunatic. Where’s the
screen? These are real houses that are about to crumble, and we are sitting like morons.”

The BIG question is how could he be enlightened about reality? Two tricks came to my awareness -

1. Stopping the movie in the middle, as in an interval, when the white screen will be revealed and truth
will dawn.

2. Repeatedly driving home the truth about the white screen on which the illusion is cast.

Inference -
1. When we are born, we open our eyes to this world movie exactly the same way Jiva entered the hall
in the middle of the film.

2. We are convinced that this world is real, just like Jiva.

3. When someone speaks of this world as illusion or “Maya,” we dismiss him/her as a lunatic in the same
way Jiva did to me.

4. We take this world show to be real only because we have no idea of the background reality equivalent
to the white screen on which the web of illusions is knit.

5. Is then the world false?

Answer - Yes and no. Ask yourself - Is the film false? Apparently it’s real but really unreal.

6. What is truth?

Answer - What is truth in a film? Only the background white screen. The lights keep on changing the
scenes, while the screen remains as the unchanging reality. Movies come and go, but the screen remains
intact.

Similarly, in life, all objects share one thing in common. “This IS a chair.”

“This IS a person.” “This IS a galaxy.”

What’s common? The IS-ness. This is existence. That “This IS A person” may become “This IS a corpse”
but the IS-ness remains. What we know as a chair to sit, a termite may know as a food to eat. Who is
true? None. Only the existence is true, chair and food are terms painted upon it based on senses and
mind. Existence is unchanging, like the white movie screen. The forms and shapes projected on it go on
changing, like the movie.

7. The process of stopping the film midway to understand the white screen is the path of meditation
(Raja Yoga) where the mind waves are stilled.

8. The process of repeated inquiry into the nature of the background reality (white screen) is the path of
knowledge (Jnana Yoga).

9. What’s the use of knowing the white screen?

Answer - Ask yourself - When we watch a movie, why do we not run when a dinosaur attacks or a
volcano erupts? Because we know the truth of its falsity. Similarly, knowledge of the reality will free us
from fear of doom. Our insecurities will turn into joy if the world is realised as a mere play, cast before
us.

- Concept from Advaita Vedanta lessons, Vedanta Society.

THE MAGIC MIRROR

Morning had set in, and I held the razor, ready to shave. Someone had put a strange mirror labelled as
“Dr. Hirak” in the bathroom. When I looked into the mirror, something miraculous happened - I saw my
reflected face, but mistook it for my real face.

That day, the mirror was new and shining bright. So, I was convinced that I am alert and I’m Dr.Hirak.

The second day, I had kept a bucket of steaming water in the bathroom. As I stared at the mirror, I found
it to be covered with a layer of mist and the reflected face was hazy. As I took the reflected face to be
real, I found myself dull that day.

The third day, I found that the mirror was turned back and there was no face reflecting upon it. I, at
once, became convinced that I’m in deep sleep.

The fourth day, the mirror showed multiple scratches and I said sorrowfully, “I’m getting old.”

The fifth day, the mirror was cracked and the crack went right through my face. I screamed in agony,
“I’m hurt. I’m hurt.”

Finally, the sixth day, the mirror was no more. (Someone had thrown the mirror marked “Dr.Hirak” into
the dustbin). Therefore, dejected, I said, “I’m dead.”

Does it end here? No.

The next day, someone put a new mirror labelled as “XYZ” in the same place, and when I saw my
reflection, I remarked, “I’m born and I’m XYZ.”
QUESTION TO THE READERS -

Experiences kept on changing each day, but what was unchanging on all the seven days?

- Concept from Advaita Vedanta lessons, Vedanta Society.

CHAIR, POT AND BANGLE

My neighbor requested me to teach her three kids some basic English words. But she cautioned me
about their obstinacy. I humbly accepted her request and here I was, with the little kids Charvaka, Astika
and Yogi.

Word 1: WOOD

I showed them a chair and told them, “The material is wood.”

Them - No, our parents told us - It’s a chair. Are they liars?

Then, in the zeal of teaching the truth, I broke a chair and told them - It’s no more a chair. It was wood
and is still wood.

Charvaka - No. It’s not wood either. It’s just a broken chair. There’s nothing called wood. It doesn’t exist.

Astika - Of course, wood exists somewhere. But we need to believe it.

Yogi - There may be a substance called wood but I need to search somewhere else to find it, not here.

Word 2: CLAY

I showed them a pot and told, “The material is clay.”

Them - No, our parents told us - It’s a pot. Are they liars?

Then, in the zeal of teaching the truth, I broke the pot and told them - It’s no more a pot. It was clay and
now is still clay.
Charvaka - No. It’s not clay either. It’s just a broken pot. There’s nothing called clay. It doesn’t exist.

Astika - Of course, clay exists somewhere. But we need to believe it.

Yogi - There may be a substance called clay but I need to search somewhere far away to find it, not in
this room.

Word 3: GOLD

I showed them a bangle and told, “The material is gold.”

Them - No, our parents told us - It’s a bangle. Are they liars?

Then, in the zeal of teaching the truth, I broke the bangle and told them - It’s no more a bangle. It was
gold and now is still gold.

Charvaka - No. It’s not gold either. It’s just a broken bangle. There’s nothing called gold. It doesn’t exist.

Astika - Of course, gold exists somewhere. But we need to believe it.

Yogi - There may be a substance called gold but I need to search somewhere far away to find it, not in
this room.

INFERENCE -

1. Charvakas were ancient hardcore materialists whose truth is only matter, nothing beyond that.
There’s no post mortem existence for them.

Astikas are theists whose truth is built upon faith. Easy to adopt but equally easy to be shaken as well.

Yogis are seekers of truth. Their foundation is built upon experience which is unshakable but requires
patience and persistence.
2. All seek truth but in different ways. The problem is not in the ways but in the seekers themselves.
Some rigidly regard everything else as absurd. Some go nowhere beyond belief. While some seekers of
truth try to find it some place else.

3. The truth of a chair is wood, that of a pot is clay and that of a bangle is gold. It’s right there, waiting to
be realised. You need not go some place else to find it. Chair, pot and bangle are but names and forms.

- Concept from Advaita Vedanta

LIFE LESSONS FROM TREKKING

The valley was dissected by a shallow rivulet and I needed to plod over knee deep waters. I was
accompanied by a Dad guiding the first trek of his seven years old son.

Son - Dad. I’ll cross alone.

So, the Dad waded to the other side. A few minutes went past, but the Son was still staring at the
waters.

Dad - Son, if you expect the waters to stop in order to give you a favourable chance to move, you’ll grow
old waiting for that chance. River is the name of a flow and it won’t stop, no matter what you expect
from it. So, the time to move is NOW.

The son realised that there will never come a time when the flowing river will turn into a stagnant lake
and waiting for all external situations to stabilise on their own is a waste of time. Therefore, he took the
first step. The rivulet was waist high for him. The current was often throwing him off balance. He
spotted a floating branch and held it firmly. But, the branch itself was swept off and he fell. As he pulled
himself up, his dad begun to speak.

Dad - Son! The waters are trying to sweep everything away. If you cling to that branch which itself is a
part of the flow, it will drag you along with it. Hold on to something firm, which is not a part of that flow
like the unyielding rocks. That way, you won’t be swept away.

The Son understood that clinging to impermanence is the root cause of his fall. He held on to
permanence and finally crossed over.
THE SEASHORE TOUR

The sweet sound of lashing waves lent music to the air. The Dad and Son duo watched as a river joined
the sea.

Son - So that’s the end. Isn’t it?

Dad – It’s the end of the personality called river.

Throughout its life, it painstakingly preserved its persona, and feared from day one that it might lose it
to the unknown. Somehow it summoned the fearlessness to let go of all limitations and submerge into
the unknown, inevitably losing its limited identity, but it gained the limitless expanse of the sea.

We keep on fearing the unknown and living horror prone lives at our comfort zones inside our ego-shell.
The ego always tries to preserve itself, and the nature tries to keep breaking the ego shell until it opens
up.

Son – The river always runs after low places.

Dad – The life-giving river quenches our thirst, takes our dirt, but lives at the lowest places - An epitome
of humility and sacrifice. No wonder it deserves to become the limitless. If you want peace and
happiness, you have to deserve them.

Son - See Dad. The mighty sea receives all the rivers.

Dad - River flows to the sea as it is the lowest point that yields the most. The water that flows in all its
eagerness to get there, is absorbed and it becomes as still as that limitless mass of water it merges with.

So is the feminine quality, the mother, who in her yielding stillness overcomes the masculine aggression.
Movement is quietened by stillness, and all forces are rendered useless against this yielding.

References -

1. Advaita Vedanta

2. Srimad Bhagavatam
2. Tao Te Ching

THE SEASHORE TOUR

The sweet sound of lashing waves lent music to the air. The Dad and Son duo watched as a river joined
the sea.

Son - So that’s the end. Isn’t it?

Dad – It’s the end of the personality called river.

Throughout its life, it painstakingly preserved its persona, and feared from day one that it might lose it
to the unknown. Somehow it summoned the fearlessness to let go of all limitations and submerge into
the unknown, inevitably losing its limited identity, but it gained the limitless expanse of the sea.

We keep on fearing the unknown and living horror prone lives at our comfort zones inside our ego-shell.
The ego always tries to preserve itself, and the nature tries to keep breaking the ego shell until it opens
up.

Son – The river always runs after low places.

Dad – The life-giving river quenches our thirst, takes our dirt, but lives at the lowest places - An epitome
of humility and sacrifice. No wonder it deserves to become the limitless. If you want peace and
happiness, you have to deserve them.

Son - See Dad. The mighty sea receives all the rivers.

Dad - River flows to the sea as it is the lowest point that yields the most. The water that flows in all its
eagerness to get there, is absorbed and it becomes as still as that limitless mass of water it merges with.

So is the feminine quality, the mother, who in her yielding stillness overcomes the masculine aggression.
Movement is quietened by stillness, and all forces are rendered useless against this yielding.

References -

1. Advaita Vedanta
2. Srimad Bhagavatam

2. Tao Te Ching

DOES ONLY “WHO AM I?” WORK?

Many of the spiritual seekers go on with this inquiry right from ground zero. Once there is some
intellectual understanding, they think that they have become spiritual. But, the real test is when life
throws stones at them, all the spiritual castles that they had built in their minds come down crashing.
Why? Is it just bricks and mortar that make a castle stable? What about the foundation? Was the mind
clean during the inquiry?

The Masters of the yore were not fools to have prescribed a list of prerequisites (Sadhana chatustaya)
before starting Self inquiry. All these are only aimed at building a strong foundation consisting of a
cleansed mind. If the mind keeps on dwelling upon external sense objects and the body conscious
seeker takes upon this intellectual exercise of “Who am I?”, what happens is that, the ego fools them
into believing that they are spiritually advanced, and the cunning ego continues sitting on the throne,
hidden from the suspecting eyes (with a veil of spirituality). Luckily, nature gives them a little shake of
world reality and the castles they had built come down crashing.

The following is a verse from Vivekachudamani -

Adau nityanityavastuvivekah pariganyate |

ihamutraphalabhogaviragasttadanantaram ||

shamadishatkasampattih mumukshutvamiti sphutam ||

Meaning (from Adi Sankaracharya's VIVEKACHUDAMANI

Translated by Swami Madhavananda) -

“19. First is enumerated discrimination between the Real and the unreal; next comes aversion to the
enjoyment of fruits (of one’s actions) here and hereafter; (next is) the group of six attributes, viz.
calmness and the rest; and (last) is clearly the yearning for Liberation.

20. A firm conviction of the mind to the effect that Brahman is real and the universe unreal, is
designated as discrimination (Viveka) between the Real and the unreal.
21. Vairagya or renunciation is the desire to give up all transitory enjoyments (ranging) from those of an
(animate) body to those of Brahmahood (having already known their defects) from observation,
instruction and so forth.

22. The resting of the mind steadfastly on its Goal (viz. Brahman) after having detached itself from
manifold sense-objects by continually observing their defects, is called Shama or calmness.

23. Turning both kinds of sense-organs away from sense-objects and placing them in their respective
centres, is called Dama or self-control. The best Uparati or self- withdrawal consists in the mind-function
ceasing to be affected by external objects.

24. The bearing of all afflictions without caring to redress them, being free (at the same time) from
anxiety or lament on their score, is called Titiksha or forbearance.

25. Acceptance by firm judgment as true of what the Scriptures and the Guru instruct, is called by sages
Shraddha or faith, by means of which the Reality is perceived.

26. Not the mere indulgence of thought (in curiosity) but the constant concentration of the intellect (or
the affirming faculty) on the ever-pure Brahman, is what is called Samadhana or self-settledness.

27. Mumukshuta or yearning for Freedom is the desire to free oneself, by realising one’s true nature,
from all bondages from that of egoism to that of the body – bondages superimposed by Ignorance.”

RAPE

Morning had set in. Rich, fat intellectuals had thronged the park with an oath to jog. An old gardener sat
in the the garden, busy with his sickle. Something caught his ears. It was the aggressive voice of Mr.
Bhogi speaking to his companions.

Mr. Bhogi - All dirty perverts! All that they deserve is an exemplary brutal punishment. Every single day,
there’s a rape case in our colony. Only stringent laws and sex education can keep these at bay.

Then he looked at the old gardener and shouted at him.

Mr. Bhogi - Hey, old man! What do you say about all this?

Gardener (turning towards him) - Sir, look at these damn weeds. The more I cut them, the more do they
grow. Do you know why? Because I often forget their roots. Unless, the roots are destroyed, the weeds
keep on coming.

Mr. Bhogi - Weeds and roots. What can I expect from a gardener brain? I’m looking at a worldwide
menace and you are sticking to your garden? Roots? Roots of rape?

In a fit of rage, Mr. Bhogi repeatedly kicked a nearby tree stump, shouting - Where are the roots?
Damn.

Gardener - There are the roots. Right there.

Mr. Bhogi (surprised) - Huh?

Gardener - You just used this poor tree as an instrument to vent out your frustration just because the
tree couldn’t hit you back. The same mentality in some other particular circumstances is called “rape.”
The roots of rape are the way we look at everything and everyone as mere objects for sense gratification
and tools for personal use. We view our world only as a huge food to consume with our eyes, mouth,
skin, nose and ears. We see our world just as a napkin to use and throw.

You couldn’t respect this tree simply because it could neither promote you in your work nor bring you
wealth.

As long as these roots remain, rapes can’t be stopped at gun point. As long as you don’t respect
unimportant things, you can never respect that which is important.

Moreover, stop playing the social reformer. Before looking for nasty weeds in others’ gardens, look for
weeds in your own house and uproot them at the earliest. Before you think of leading the blind, check
your own eyesight first, for if a blind helps another blind cross a busy highway, both will inevitably meet
with an accident.

IT’S SADLY REAL - “DR. HIRAK HAS A HOLE IN HIS HEART”

Since my childhood, I’ve been diagnosed with this condition many a time and suggested multifaceted
treatments by the society; I followed them earnestly, but to no avail. Here is the treatment summary.

DIAGNOSIS 1 -

Hole type - You are INCOMPLETE.

Treatment - Fill up this hole using things in order to make yourself complete. From where? From the
world - Degrees, jobs, bank balance, relationships, respect, car etc. Stuff them.

Result - Fear, insecurity - Whatever borrowed is likely to be snatched away anytime.

Treatment of fear - Distraction using photography and traveling, and hiding behind more work.

Result - The distraction ends and fear haunts again.

DIAGNOSIS 2 -

Hole type - You can DO NOTHING

Treatment - Overdo - Overstudy, overwork

Result - Exhaustion, consumption of body and mind.

DIAGNOSIS 3 -

Hole type - You KNOW NOTHING

Treatment - Stuff your brain with information as much as possible, mock others with your knowledge to
prove your omniscience.

Result - Ignorance keeps on winning by miles.

DIAGNOSIS 4 -

Hole type - You are WEAK

Treatment - Make yourself strong intellectually, financially and physically, display your strength to feel
omnipotent.

Result - I’m still not strong enough.

DIAGNOSIS 5 -

Hole type - You are UNWORTHY AND VALUELESS.

Treatment - Prove yourself to the world that you are something, otherwise you do not deserve love and
respect.

Result - Still a loser

DIAGNOSIS 6

Hole type - You are SMALL.

Treatment - You attach things and people from the world to grow big. Display your superiority to feel
omnipresent.

Result - Insecurity - What if the world takes back what it had lent me?

DIAGNOSIS 7-

Hole type - You are UGLY

Treatment - You have to be made “presentable” or “tasty” enough to be consumed by the society.

Therefore, apply some make up on your body (stylish clothes, perfumes etc), make up your CVs and
speech as well, to please others.

Result - Still, I remain ugly as I am; I’m beautiful only with make ups.

CONCLUSION - No treatment can ever cure the hole. The cycle of hole-fill-fear continues unabated.

INFERENCE -

“Going through the same track again and again expecting different results” is INSANITY.

So, as a sane entity, I find that things of my world can never fill that hole. Therefore, things not of my
world can fill. What is there in my experience that is not my world? Think. Think. Think............

Since the time I remember, there have been 2 entities - My world and .......................................I.

If it’s not the world, then only “I” can fill the gap in my heart. What is this “l”? There’s no direct answer,
but only this question. Maybe, it takes patience and persistence to know what this question points to.

Has anyone else been diagnosed with a non-anatomical hole in the heart like me which has been
injecting fear all along?
PRACTICAL MISTAKES IN SELF INQUIRY MADE BY IGNORANT FOOLS LIKE DR. HIRAK

1. Looking for the Self - It’s our innate tendency to “objectivity” i.e., try to imagine everything as objects.
Self is often conceived of as light and energy and so on. But, the Self is NOT an object of experience. It’s
the SUBJECT. Whatever I think of the Self is false, whatever I think “I am” is false, because the limited
can’t comprehend the unlimited.

2. Thinking that the little person called Dr. Hirak will be free - The little person is NOT in bondage. The
little person IS the bondage. The little person doesn’t become free, rather you get freedom from the
little person.

3. Waiting for the perfect sunrise - The river of problems keeps on flowing. Waiting for it to stop in order
to cross is too much to ask for. The will never be a perfect sunrise. The time is now.

4. Inability to accept the dissolution of Dr. Hirak - For the Self to fill, the cup should be emptied of that
little person. That one has to go (dissolve into the Self like a river surrenders itself into the ocean). The
mind can’t accept the termination of the ego and its substitution with that which is invaluable. There’s a
price for everything, and bigger aims demand bigger sacrifices. In self-realisation, the price paid is
whatever I think I am and that’s difficult. The truth is - Only destruction is the forerunner of
construction.

5. Inability to admit that “I don’t know” and “I am confused” - That three lettered words are so difficult
to acknowledge. Why? Ego, of course. But unless I am aware of my ignorance, how will knowledge ever
be? Unless I’m aware of my confusion, how can clarity ever be? IT’S WISER TO HONESTLY ADMIT
IGNORANCE AND CONFUSION THAN TO BE A HYPOCRITE WHO CALLS HIMSELF/HERSELF AS THE SELF
AND FALLS FOR SENSE OBJECTS AND PETTY SQUABBLES.

6. Expectations - We are programmed to work for getting reward and avoid punishment. Spirituality,
however is no bed of roses. Life will throw everything that it has, to test us. Infinite is sought BUT with
the price of “I”. You may call this reward or punishment.

7. Inability to lose self importance - Why are we serious? Because of our self importance. We think that
we are something, and that has to go.
8. Ego of spirituality - We often take worldly persons as inferior, and when we do that, it’s enough of an
evidence of our own inferiority and impurity.

9. Diplomacy - I want to climb Mt. Everest, but I want to make my own route as per my suitability. Result
- There’s more likelihood to get lost than to reach. Only the One who has been to Mt. Everest several
times has the potential to decide about routes.

This is sheer arrogance on the part of a novice to bargain for more comfortable paths.

WHEN I LIFTED THE HEAVY WARDDROBE

A heavy wardrobe was required to be lifted upstairs. I was a little child at that time. I started to imagine
that it was my sole responsibility to move it. The strong architects decided to carry it, but I fought tooth
and nail about my role in its lifting. So, they agreed to let me hold the middle portion of the weight.

The ordeal started, I held the wardrobe in the middle but kept on believing that I was lifting the whole
wight. I was feeling as if the huge piece would crush me sometime. I started cursing my luck, “Why me?
Why should I bear the brunt?”

At one time, I started questioning my own understanding, “Am I really bearing the whole weight or is it
my illusion?” But still I couldn’t get away, because still I wasn’t convinced that it was not me who carried
the weight on the shoulders. If I released the hold, the wardrobe would fall and I would be responsible
for the damage.

It took me a lot of guts to realise the truth and finally, I released my hold, and to my surprise, the
wardrobe was still moving without my contribution. The truth dawned on me that it was all a
preplanned game of illusion. The architects had been carrying the weight all along. Then what? I joyfully
contributed to the movement, as I was now convinced that it was not a load but a game. The wardrobe
could move with or without me.

INFERENCE-

Like the little child, most of us feel that a great burden is on our shoulders and moving with it sometimes
appears to be torture.

Q. Was the weight unreal?

A. No, it appeared pretty real when I was under the illusion of carrying it.
But, when I realised the truth, then I understood that there was no weight on my shoulders since the
beginning.

Q. What’s the use of knowing the truth of the illusion?

A. I would be relieved of all the burden on my shoulders. The carriage of weight would now be
converted into a play.

Q. How to know the truth?

A. It takes a persistent, honest inquiry to arrive at the truth. I need to question everything - all concepts
that had conditioned my mind, even my own thoughts.

WHEN I LIFTED THE HEAVY WARDDROBE

A heavy wardrobe was required to be lifted upstairs. I was a little child at that time. I started to imagine
that it was my sole responsibility to move it. The strong architects decided to carry it, but I fought tooth
and nail about my role in its lifting. So, they agreed to let me hold the middle portion of the weight.

The ordeal started, I held the wardrobe in the middle but kept on believing that I was lifting the whole
wight. I was feeling as if the huge piece would crush me sometime. I started cursing my luck, “Why me?
Why should I bear the brunt?”

At one time, I started questioning my own understanding, “Am I really bearing the whole weight or is it
my illusion?” But I couldn’t get away, because still I wasn’t convinced that it was not me who carried the
weight on the shoulders. If I released the hold, the wardrobe would fall and I would be responsible for
the damage.

It took me a lot of guts to realise the truth and finally, I released my hold, and to my surprise, the
wardrobe was still moving without my contribution. The truth dawned on me that it was all a
preplanned game of illusion. The architects had been carrying the weight all along. Then what? I joyfully
contributed to the movement, as I was now convinced that it was not a load but a game. The wardrobe
could move with or without me.

INFERENCE-

Like the little child, most of us feel that a great burden is on our shoulders and moving with it sometimes
appears to be torture.
Q. Was the weight unreal?

A. No, it appeared pretty real when I was under the illusion of carrying it.

But, when I realised the truth, then I understood that there was no weight on my shoulders since the
beginning.

Q. What’s the use of knowing the truth of the illusion?

A. I would be relieved of all the burden on my shoulders. The carriage of weight would now be
converted into a play.

Q. How to know the truth?

A. It takes a persistent, honest inquiry to arrive at the truth. I need to question everything - all concepts
that had conditioned my mind, even my own thoughts.

THE MYSTERIOUS HALL IN THE SCIENCE CENTRE

Two months ago, I made a family trip to the science centre. There were so many interesting gadgets,
albeit one strange hall caught my attention. As I went near that place, I saw a few little kids who had
arrived as a part of an educational tour. One kindergarten girl came out laughing from that hall. She
could barely speak in bewilderment, “What a wonderful place that is! As I laughed, thousands of friends
laughed. As I danced, they danced with me. It was amazing.”

Hearing this, another pretty little girl rushed in for fun. But, no sooner had she gone in, than she rushed
out screaming with tears on her eyes. She started to yell, “There are monsters inside, all waiting to hurt.
I made faces at them and they did the same. I showed my fist, so did they. Finally, as I tried to hit them,
thousands of them rushed to hurt me,” and she started to wail loudly.

I earnestly stepped into the magic hall and found it to be a maze of mirrors. I laughed and thousands of
me laughed back. I showed my anger and received a thousand times more. Whatever I threw, that
boomeranged back multiplied by thousands.

INFERENCE-

Our world is this maze of mirrors. The energy that we give comes back to us - Positive for positive and
negative for negative. Our world is our own reflection.
Just think scientifically - Where exactly do you see your world? - Light from the world enters the eyes -
signalled to your brain, processed, and get tainted by the mind. That means, the world is just an image
in your brain/mind.

Why are we exploited by our society? Because we exploit our society.

Why do we live like a slave of everyone? Because we want to dominate and enslave everyone.

To sum up - The outer world is a reflection of our inner nature. We see what we are.

- Based on an old story of mirrors

ANDHA PANGU NYAYA

A blind(andha) and a lame(pangu) are trapped in a forest fire.

The blind can’t see, but walk and the lame can’t walk but see. How do they get out? By helping each
other - The blind carrying the lame on his shoulders and the lame guiding his way out.

Inference - It’s our own life of deficiencies that is engulfed in forest fire. Our head and heart are like the
blind and the lame, each having strengths and weaknesses. It the union of strengths and the
cancellation of weaknesses that make a person integrated and help him find a way out of this forest fire.

This is ANDHA PANGU NYAYA.

- From “Bhaja Govindam” by Adi Shankaracharya

MY UNCLE’S SACRED RING

I got a phone call from aunt (Mrs. Chintamani). She was aggrieved, for uncle had concluded that there’s
sorrow everywhere and thereby renouncing everything, he headed to the mountains in order to find
happiness. He was supposed to stay at my residence for a few days before retiring to a Himalayan cave.

“Bring him back, Hirak. Please bring him back.” was what she kept on repeating.

Uncle Chintamani knocked on the door the next day. He looked sullen and words slowly came out from
his mouth, “There’s no happiness anywhere. So, I left all wealth and decided to search for happiness.
The only support I have is my grandfather’s sacred ring that I’ve carefully preserved in my bag.”

I chalked out a plan. When he slept, I sneaked into his room and fished out his ring.

The next day, he was in terrible agony. “It’s gone,” He shouted, “My only support is gone,” And he ran
helter skelter, looking for his treasure.

Then I quickly showed him what he was searching for and noticed a beam of joy lighting up his face.

“I’m so happy”, He shouted.

I said, “I think you’ve found your happiness, uncle.”

“Yes,” He replied,”My search ends.”

“Hopefully”, was my remark.

INFERENCE -

1. Pleasure and pain are two sides of the same coin. Pleasure is less pain. Pain is less pleasure. We
exhaust ourselves searching for pleasure and avoiding pain, completely ignorant of the fact that - Peace
supervenes only from giving up both.

2. You can’t run away from your troubles and retire to a cave, because someone always follows you and
torments wherever you go. It’s you yourself.

You are your own bondage and your liberation as well.

Concept from - An old story of Mulla Nasruddin

STILLNESS
Once there lived a man named Chanchal, who couldn’t stop himself from moving. His motion continued
unabated for days and nights combined. That badly drained his energy but he couldn’t know why he felt
fatigued. He was constantly worried about the cause of his weariness.

Then his friends advised, “You’re drained because you worry so much. There’s only one solution - You
run so hard that you forget to worry. That’s all that we do. Just keep running and don’t stop.”

Therefore, Mr. Chanchal ran harder and harder to distract himself. Nevertheless, the result was -
Exhaustion and collapse. Not only him, but all of his colleagues succumbed to excessive running.

INFERENCE -

1. We are all runners in our lives. Either we run from some fear, or we run towards some target, but we
sprint constantly. As a result, we glow momentarily and get extinguished like a feeble cracker, not like a
steady lamp.

Please stop and see what you are running from, what you are running to, and where you are running on.

2. Relaxation from motion can’t happen by adding more motion.

3. Most of our troubles stem from confused activity or overactivity, not from less action.

Often, the best solution of all is not to act at all, and when action is needed, to do as little as possible.
The life is a very delicate balance, and all our actions affect it. So, acting only that much which would
suffice could ensure harmony.

Most of the things in the world rectify themselves, when given some time. When impatience forces us
hurry to solve them, we may make things worse.

4. A mosquito bites and it itches. You go on scratching thinking that you have to do something to get rid
of that itch. You feel you should scratch more dynamically to get even better response. The result - A
painful sore.

(খখখখখখখখ খখ in Bengali). This is exactly what we do to our lives when we wrongly consider
ourselves “motors of our world.”

5. Energy doesn’t come from dynamism; rather, movement is a result of energy. The source of energy is
in stillness.

It’s like the calm central “eye” of the tornado with tremendous torrents whirling all around.
6. Stillness is not merely physical. It more of a mental quality. A person can be profoundly still while in
physical motion, and another person may be morbidly mobile in spite of sitting still.

7. The fastest animal, cheetah, is fun to watch. All its speed and agility is restricted to a few moments of
catching the prey. How does it spend much of its time? By being masterly inactive, observing.

Remembering the quote -

“The highest virtue does nothing.

Yet, nothing needs to be done.

The lowest virtue does everything.

Yet, much remains to be done.”

[Tao Te Ching chapter 38]

IS IT JUSTIFIED - CONSTANTLY KEEPING ONESELF BUSY TO AVOID TENSIONS?

Once there lived a man named Chanchal, who couldn’t stop himself from moving. His motion continued
unabated for days and nights combined. This badly drained his energy but he couldn’t know why he felt
fatigued. He was constantly worried about the cause of his weariness.

Then his friends advised, “You’re drained because you worry so much. There’s only one solution - You
run so hard that you forget to worry. That’s all that we do. Just keep running and don’t stop.”

Therefore, Mr. Chanchal ran harder and harder to distract himself. Nevertheless, the result was -
Exhaustion and collapse. Not only him, but all of his colleagues succumbed to excessive running.

INFERENCE -

1. We are all runners in our lives. Either we run from some fear, or we run towards some target, but we
sprint constantly. As a result, we glow momentarily and get extinguished like a feeble cracker, not like a
steady lamp.

Please stop and see what you are running from, what you are running to, and where you are running on.
2. Relaxation from motion can’t happen by adding more motion.

3. Most of our troubles stem from confused activity or overactivity, not from less action.

Often, the best solution of all is not to act at all, and when action is needed, to do as little as possible.
The life is a very delicate balance, and all our actions affect it. So, acting only that much which would
suffice could ensure harmony.

Most of the things in the world rectify themselves, when given some time. When impatience forces us
hurry to solve them, we may make things worse.

4. A mosquito bites and it itches. You go on scratching thinking that you have to do something to get rid
of that itch. You feel you should scratch more dynamically to get even better response. The result - A
painful sore.

(খখখখখখখখ খখ in Bengali). This is exactly what we do to our lives when we wrongly consider
ourselves “motors of our world.”

5. Energy doesn’t come from dynamism; rather, movement is a result of energy. The source of energy is
in stillness.

It’s like the calm central “eye” of the tornado with tremendous torrents whirling all around.

6. Stillness is not merely physical. It more of a mental quality. A person can be profoundly still while in
physical motion, and another person may be morbidly mobile in spite of sitting still.

7. The fastest animal, cheetah, is fun to watch. All its speed and agility is restricted to a few moments of
catching the prey. How does it spend much of its time? By being masterly inactive, observing.

Remembering the quote -

“The highest virtue does nothing.

Yet, nothing needs to be done.

The lowest virtue does everything.

Yet, much remains to be done.”

[Tao Te Ching chapter 38]

SNAKE IN MY CLINIC

That was a time when I used to practice at a polyclinic in an area infamous for snake bites. The sun had
set and I was walking towards my room. Two figures met my eyes. One was a civil engineer who had
come to inspect for damages incurred from the recent earthquake. The other was an electrician.

My room was dark expect for a beam of street light entering through the window. As I entered, I was
taken aback. A snake was dangling from the ceiling, barely visible with the light streaming in through the
window. I was aghast. The memories of neurotoxic shocks that I had managed danced in my mind.
Beads of sweat trickled down my forehead. I forgot where the switch was and shouted, “Snake.”

Hearing this, the engineer and the electrician rushed to the spot. The engineer was the first to speak,
“Calm down, Doctor, that’s no snake. That’s a crack on the wall made by the earthquake. That’s what I
was looking for to repair.”

“No,” the electrician opened his mouth, “It’s a cable wire. My stupid junior has left his work unfinished.”

I remembered the position of the switch and lo! The room was lit in no time. But, I made a stunning
realisation - That was neither a snake, nor a crack, nor a cable; that was just a rope.

INFERENCE -

1. We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are. The rope was the truth. The snake, crack
and cable were the projections of our minds.

In our daily life too, when we see a book - There’s something which reflects light to our eyes, that is
converted into signals to be interpreted by the brain and influenced by the mind. Then our mind
matches that interpretation with past experience and tells us that this is a book. What originally there is,
we know not - What we call a book is simply an interpretation of a group of signals generated from a
sensory apparatus(eyes).

2. Was the snake unreal?

Ans. No. It was pretty real to me before knowing the truth. Therefore, it was a lower truth.
3. Why was this illusion?

Ans. Because of darkness. Ignorance is the cause of illusion.

4. How was this illusion removed?

Ans. By light. Similarly, knowledge comes and removes the ignorance.

5. Was the realisation gradual?

Ans. No, the knowledge of the truth came in a flash of light.

6. My truth is not your truth, and both our truths are not THE truth.

Trying to dismiss others’ truths as mumbo jumbo and promoting my own truth as the only truth,
without proper reflection and reasoning is not “seeking of truth.” It’s “marketing of truth.”

7. Nothing is absurd. It’s just a truth from one’s point of view.

The same street appears different to a person on the street, than to a person on the roof, and both their
views are dismissed as absurd by a person in a helicopter.

As Swami Vivekananda said, “man is not travelling from error to truth, but from truth to truth, from
lower to higher truth. “

Concept from - Advaita Vedanta

“The sum total of this whole universe is God Himself. Is God then matter? No, certainly not, for
matter is that God perceived by the five senses; that God as perceived through the intellect is
mind; and when the spirit sees, He is seen as spirit. He is not matter, but whatever is real in
matter is He. Whatever is real in this chair is He, for the chair requires two things to make it.
Something was outside which my senses brought to me, and to which my mind contributed
something else, and the combination of these two is the chair. That which existed eternally,
independent of the senses and of the intellect, was the Lord Himself. Upon Him the senses are
painting chairs, and tables, and rooms, houses, and worlds, and moons, and suns, and stars, and
everything else. How is it, then, that we all see this same chair, that we are all alike painting
these various things on the Lord, on this Existence, Knowledge, and Bliss? It need not be that all
paint the same way, but those who paint the same way are on the same plane of existence and
therefore they see one another's paintings as well as one another. There may be millions of
beings between you and me who do not paint the Lord in the same way, and them and their
paintings we do not see.”

- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 1

WHAT IS GOOD AND WHAT IS BAD?

One fine day, Vivek heard the voice of his dear friend Nyayadhish.

Nyayadhish - Vivek, I won a big lottery; I’ll acquire my dream bike and make my dream ride to the
mountains. Then, I’ll have my own house in the hills and build my own office as well. My life is set. ISN’T
THIS GOOD?

Vivek (with a grin) - I don’t have the knowledge of good and bad.

Nyayadhish - Don’t be a spoilsport, man.

After a week, Vivek met Nyayadhish in the hospital.

Nyayadhish - I had my dream bike and already planned and paid for my dream ride, but see how cruel
life is! One wicked accident, and a plaster cast sits on my leg, plus the pain. My dream ride to the
mountains is gone. I can’t be fit in a week. The dream ride is gone, man. ISN’T THIS BAD?

Vivek - I don’t have the knowledge of good and bad.

Nyayadhish - Uff

After a month, Vivek met Nyayadhish at the latter’s residence.

Nyayadhish - Many bikers lost their lives from a flash flood in the mountains. I was lucky to have not
travelled. My accident, though painful, saved my life. ISN’T THIS GOOD?

Vivek - I don’t have the knowledge of good and bad.

After a year, Vivek was invited to Nyayadhish’s house in the hills. Nyayadhish first took him to his office
and showed him his employees.

Nyayadhish (whispering) - See this old woman in the front? She’s bad. Rude and slow. See that lady on
the right? She’s good. Fast and energetic. Oh! I almost forgot. You don’t have knowledge of good and
bad. But I do have.

Nyayadhish took Vivek to his new home and led him to a balcony facing a wonderful view of the hills.

Nyayadhish - See the beauty of the hills.

Vivek - Which hill is good, and which one is bad?

Nyayadhish - How come hills be good and bad?

Vivek - I don’t have knowledge, but you do.

Nyayadhish - Ok. The nearest hill has potential for opening up of a farm. So it’s good. The distant hill is a
forested land where encroachment is illegal. So, it’s of no use to me. Therefore, it’s bad.

At night, Nyayadhish took Vivek to the roof to show him the amazing starlit sky.

Nyayadhish - See the stars. You have never seen so many in the city haze, I bet.

Vivek - Which one is a good star and which one is a bad star?

Nyayadhish - That one I can’t answer. I lose.

Vivek - Why? As they are of no use to you? Lucky for them that they are out of your reach. If you could
ever find anything from the stars for your personal use, it won’t take a second for you to label them as
good and bad.

Have you ever seen any person in your life?

Nyayadhish - What a stupid question!

Vivek - Do you exactly see people, or you see your opinions about them? I am NOT interested in
inquiring about personal lives, but I did so to clear your confusion.

The bad, slow, rude lady in your office is an angel at home. She’s sacrificed her own comforts to bring up
her daughters. For her husband and her daughters, she’s a treasure beyond measure.

The good, fast, energetic lady at your office is a cheat and liar in her personal life. She’s married twice
and has snatched the property of both her husbands. She’s fighting a legal battle that both her erstwhile
husbands have filed against her. They call her a rogue.

This is the reason I admit that I can’t possibly know the absolute good and bad, because they don’t exist.
For all I know, is that, the truth lies way beyond them.
INFERENCE -

1. We look at a very fragmented view of life and that too with a biased mind.

It’s like LOOKING AT THE UNIVERSE THROUGH A KEYHOLE WEARING COLOURED GLASSES.

2. We have seldom actually seen anything. All that we see is our opinion about them. We never actually
watch a bird, for we only watch our ideas about a bird, the names and all the information stuffed in our
heads.

3. A person kills a million mosquitoes to combat dengue and calls it good. But for the mosquitoes, it’s a
bad genocide.

4. All that happens don’t have any label of good or bad, right or wrong attached to them. We attach the
labels based on our conditioning.

5. Good is less bad and bad is less good. Good exists only with reference to bad and bad exists only in
reference to good. None of them have any independent existence.

IMPORTANCE OF FORM (SAGUNA BRAHMAN) IN ADVAITA

1. From the Gospel of Shri Ramakrishna -

"But how can you grasp the formless aspect all at once?" the Master asked. "When the archers are
learning to shoot, they first aim at the plantain tree, then at a thin tree, then at a fruit, then at the
leaves, and finally at a flying bird. First meditate on the aspect with form. This will enable you to see the
formless later.”

Manomohan, a devotee had a long conversation with Sri Ramakrishna, he asked Sri Ramakrishna: "Some
people say God is formless, others say He is with form, and again others call Him Krishna, Shiva, or Kali.
Could you tell us what the real nature of God is?"

Sri Ramakrishna smiled and said: "He is sometimes with form, He is sometimes formless, and again He is
beyond both. He is all-pervading. It is difficult to ascertain His real nature. Just as there is nothing to
compare gold with except gold, so there is nothing equal to God. He is the cause of the gross objects as
well as of the subtle mind and intellect. For example: The same substance in its solid form is ice, in its
liquid form is water, and in its gaseous form is vapour. According to the mental attitude of the spiritual
aspirant, God manifests Himself. A jnani experiences God as all-pervading, formless space, and a
devotee perceives God with a particular form. So, if you sincerely want to know the real nature of God,
meditate on Him in solitude. Have patience. Surrender yourself to him and pray. When the right time
comes, you will see Him."

2. From the Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda -

“ All of you have been taught to believe in an omnipresent God. Try to think of it. How few of you can
have any idea of what omnipresence means! If you struggle hard, you will get something like the idea of
ocean, or of the sky, or of a vast stretch of green earth, or of a desert. All these are material images, and
so long as you cannot conceive of the abstract as abstract, of the ideal as the ideal, you will have to
resort to these forms, these material images. It does not make much difference whether these images
are inside or outside the mind. We are all born idolators, and idolatry is good, because it is in the nature
of man. Who can get beyond it? Only the perfect man, the God-man.”

ONE APPEARS AS MANY

Three friends Bhogi, Sadhak and Yogi once went for an unplanned tour of an old city. They decided to
play a game. Yogi would go for a helicopter ride. The helipad was located on the roof of the tallest
building. Sadhak would stand on the helipad looking down the cityscape and Bhogi would walk down the
streets. They would then go for a conference call with each other to compare their experiences.

So, Bhogi’s phone rang. He found Sadhaka on the line.

Bhogi - There’s only one road and it’s clogged with honking traffic and a big crowd.

Sadhak - Yes, I can see you down below. You’re wrong. There’s another way running parallel to the one
you’re in.

Bhogi - Liar. I believe in only what I see. There’s only one way with lots of misery. So much traffic.

Then, Yogi joined the conversation from the helicopter.

Yogi - You both are wrong. There are innumerable ways around. Some that appear to be commonly
travelled shortcuts are blocked with traffic, while some narrow lanes that appear less travelled are long
and lead to the destination. Stop arguing, come to my place and see it for yourself.

Bhogi first didn’t believe them. He walked for a few metres facing the crowd and the traffic. Then he
decided to behold the truth himself. So, he went up the building and joined Sadhak.
Bhogi - You were right. There are not one but two ways. I had missed the second one from my narrow
street view.

Bhogi found out that the barriers between the buildings and streets had thinned out when seen from up
there.

Finally he joined Yogi for a helicopter ride and realised that the barriers between things on the ground
dimmed further.

At last, from a certain height, all that appeared to be many below seemed to merge into One.

INFERENCE -

The truths that we so dearly adhere to, depend on our points of view.

My truth is not your truth and both our truths are not THE truth.

Distinctions disappear as we evolve spiritually and soon, we realise that it is the same One from the
highest plane that appears as many from the lower planes.

ONE APPEARS AS MANY

Three friends Bhogi, Sadhak and Yogi once went for an unplanned tour of an old city. They decided to
play a game. Yogi would go for a helicopter ride. The helipad was located on the roof of the tallest
building. Sadhak would stand on the helipad looking down the cityscape and Bhogi would walk down the
streets. They would then go for a conference call with each other to compare their experiences.

So, Bhogi’s phone rang. He found Sadhak on the line.

Bhogi - There’s only one road and it’s clogged with honking traffic and a big crowd.

Sadhak - Yes, I can see you down below. You’re wrong. There’s another way running parallel to the one
you’re in.

Bhogi - Liar. I believe in only what I see. There’s only one way with lots of misery. So much traffic.

Then, Yogi joined the conversation from the helicopter.

Yogi - You both are wrong. There are innumerable ways around. Some that appear to be commonly
travelled shortcuts are blocked with traffic, while some narrow lanes that appear less travelled are long
and lead to the destination. Stop arguing, come to my place and see it for yourself.
Bhogi first didn’t believe them. He walked for a few metres facing the crowd and the traffic. Then he
decided to behold the truth himself. So, he went up the building and joined Sadhak.

Bhogi - You were right. There are not one but two ways. I had missed the second one from my narrow
street view.

Bhogi found out that the barriers between the buildings and streets had thinned out when seen from up
there.

Finally he joined Yogi for a helicopter ride and realised that the barriers between things on the ground
dimmed further.

At last, from a certain height, all that appeared to be many below seemed to merge into One.

INFERENCE -

The truths that we so dearly adhere to, depend on our points of view.

My truth is not your truth and both our truths are not THE truth.

Distinctions disappear as we evolve spiritually and soon, we realise that it is the same One from the
highest plane that appears as many from the lower planes.

SHORTCUTS IN ADVAITA

It is our propensity for shortcuts in our worldly transactional life that is spilled over spiritual life as well.

I’m lost in a forest and am trying to find a way back home. Here are the suggestions from my Sadhak
friends -

Shortcut 1. “Tell yourself that you are the Self/ Pure Consciousness and the truth will dawn in you” -

Explanation - Well! The moment I tell this to myself, I think of an “object” called Self and identify myself
with it. There were already body mind identifications. Now, I replace them with a new one. BUT THE
ONLY DIFFERENCE - This chain is very subtle and even if spotted, is too valuable to break. Why? The ego
has already sanctified it by giving it a holy name “Self.”

The solution - The Self is not an object of experience. It’s wiser to first discard what I am not before
realising what I am. In other words, “Neti Neti” should precede “Eti Eti”.
Shortcut 2. “Just do nothing”

Explanation - When was the last time I did nothing? Consciously, NEVER. Unconsciously, ever night in
deep sleep. Nevertheless, being ignorant, I don’t even know what doing nothing means. Some mental
activity has always been there.

Shortcut 3. “Just be silent”

Explanation - What exactly is silence? It can’t be simply shutting up my mouth.

For a fool like me, silence means “less noise”. Can a novice mind be ever shut down without training?

Shortcut 4. “There is no forest. Everything is Self. So, there’s no need to find any way” -

Explanation - When the Self has entered through my ears and eyes and not through my heart, will
pretensions work? If I don’t look at my life honestly and admit my confusion, how will I ever know what
clarity is?

If I keep falling for the same desires and emotional lability and tell myself all is Self - Is it realisation, or is
it a way the ego hides and consecrates its shortcomings?

Solution - To have an honest inquiry into your own nature. Swami Vivekananda used to say that one
must close the eyes and say, “l”. If there is slightest hint of body or mind, you haven’t realised yet.

Shortcut 5. “Do your work honestly and sincerely and that’s enough. Even Shri Krishna advocated Karma
Yoga.”-

Explanation - A little knowledge is dangerous. The Bhagawad Gita should not be read in fragments to
form an opinion. Here is what Lord Krishna said about Karma Yoga -

1. Karma yoga to consist in the renunciation of both attachment for and the fruit of Karma (Gita II .48);

2. Karma yoga as the renunciation of attachment for all Karmas and all objects (Gita VI .4);

3. Karma yoga as the renunciation of the fruit of all Karmas (Gita XVIII .11) or as the absence of craving
for the fruit of Karmas (Gita VI .1).
In short, Karma Yoga is selfless service. So, if I slog day and night sincerely to earn a few bucks, that
actually is good Karma but not Yoga. This is actually how the ego justifies the hard labour one puts in by
wrapping it with a sacred cover of “Karma Yoga”.

A Karma Yogi must not be affected in the least if his work remains unseen, unappreciated and
unrewarding.

In a nutshell, when I’m lost, I’ve to first honestly observe my life and admit my ignorance and confusion.
Then I find a way back as suggested by someone who is already conversant with the home I’m searching.

PREPARING THE SOIL

I want a mango. So, I say,”mango, mango” Will it come? No. First I need to prepare the soil. Only the
right soil can receive a potent seed to give rise to a mango tree. The preparatory phase (Sadhana
Chatusthaya) is the most important phase often missed.

If I get a key from a realised master and customise it to my convenience, it no longer fits into the lock
intended to open. Likewise, if I find a prescribed route and start tampering with the route to modify it
into a short cut, it no longer remains the route. It is the arrogance of a seeker to bargain for more
comfortable routes.

FACING TRUTH IS LIKE BEHOLDING THE SUN - SO PAINFULLY HUMILIATING.

Living in a bed of lies is so comfy, like beholding the moon with its fake soft rays - Soothing indeed.

“In a day, when you don't come across any problems - you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong
path.”

- Swami Vivekananda

THE GHOST HOUSE OF HORRORS

Long, long ago, I was free. Then I thought of building a house to live in. My dream house would be an
exact replica of me. But, I lacked the resources to build it. So, I borrowed each brick and mortar and
cement from other people around me. Although I started to live inside the structure, I wasn’t quite
satisfied with the finish. It was still shorter than other houses in the neighbourhood. That’s why the
process of borrowing and adding up continued on and on. I loved my new house so much so that I felt as
if I was my house. As it stood bigger than many, I felt pride in being it.

A big problem arose. As the whole structure was borrowed from others, there was every possibility
that each brick could be taken away from me anytime. If this happened, the building could be deformed
or it might even crash. Then I would be no more. As a result, I was scared while facing people from
whom I had borrowed. All interactions began to terrify me. I started to act like a slave of all. The fear of
being snatched kept gnawing me from inside.

At the same time, the hunger for a better house possessed me and I kept on borrowing more bricks
from other people. The more I built, the more I feared. The building stood bigger and better day by day,
so were the horrors of losing it. “What if other people start taking back the bricks? I will collapse and be
no more.”

Result - I even forgot that I could even exist without my house of horror, that I could ever be free.

INFERENCE -

The house is the EGO.

We construct a self-image of ourselves based on the reaction of the external world to us. That’s ego.
Whatever we think of ourselves is added up layer by layer. We live in it and it seems to be inseparable
from us.

What was meant for our self-preservation often becomes our bondage.

All our fears are based on the anticipation of the loss of the ego. “What if I don’t get my dose of
attention and praise? What if someone tells me something unpleasant? What if I don’t get likes and
comments on Facebook?” That’s why we are frightened all the time. We are often shy. We are often all
hands and feet while speaking in public. A little appreciation causes us to be in seventh heaven, and a
little criticism often tears us apart. In other words, we became controlled by a remote placed in others’
hands.

In short, the ego causes us to become slaves of critical acclaim.

What’s the solution?

Look at our life honestly. The ego is just like a big balloon. It has nothing but air. All it needs is a little
prick, and it will vanish. It grows with our attention. Know that it isn’t us. Observing it impartially
without giving it any importance is the simple prick that is often required, and when it explodes, we will
realise that it never was.

But beware. The ego often sends a double to fool us. We will feel that doing some holy deeds like
charity and reading sacred books will sanitise us. But then we will start looking down upon those who
don’t do them. That’s an ego trap. We think that the ego is dead but it’s the duplicate who is killed and
the real ego survives at our back The ego will sit upon us with the garb of spirituality. Again an honest
observation will prick the air out of it.
In a nutshell- How to identify and get rid of ego? To be honest with oneself and to observe impartially.

“Care about what other people think and you will always be their prisoner”

– Lao Tzu

Sri Ramakrishna: “Listen to a story. Once a man entered a wood and saw a small animal on a tree. He
came back and told another man that he had seen a creature of a beautiful red colour on a certain tree.
The second man replied: ‘When I went into the wood, I also saw that animal. But why do you call it red?
It is green.’ Another man who was present contradicted them both and insisted that it was yellow.

Presently others arrived and contended that it was grey, violet, blue, and so forth and so on. At last they
started quarrelling among themselves. To settle the dispute they all went to the tree. They saw a man
sitting under it. On being asked, he replied: ‘Yes, I live under this tree and I know the animal very well.
All your descriptions are true.

Sometimes it appears red, sometimes yellow, and at other times blue, violet, grey, and so forth. It is a
chameleon. And sometimes it has no colour at all. Now it has a colour, and now it has none.’ “In like
manner, one who constantly thinks of God can know His real nature; he alone knows that God reveals
Himself to seekers in various forms and aspects.

God has attributes; then again He has none. Only the man who lives under the tree knows that the
chameleon can appear in various colours, and he knows, further, that the animal at times has no colour
at all. It is the others who suffer from the agony of futile argument.

— Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Ch. 6

M. (humbly): "How ought we to live in the world?"

MASTER: "Do all your duties, but keep your mind on God. Live with all — with wife and children, father
and mother — and serve them. Treat them as if they were very dear to you, but know in your heart of
hearts that they do not belong to you.

A maidservant in the house of a rich man performs all the household duties, but her thoughts are fixed
on her own home in her native village. She brings up her master's children as if they were her own. She
even speaks of them as 'my Rama' or 'my Hari'. But in her own mind she knows very well that they do
not belong to her at all.

The tortoise moves about in the water. But can you guess where her thoughts are? There on the bank,
where her eggs are lying. Do all your duties in the world, but keep your mind on God.

If you enter the world without first cultivating love for God, you will be entangled more and more. You
will be overwhelmed with its danger, its grief its sorrows. And the more you think of worldly things, the
more you will be attached to them.

"First rub your hands with oil and then break open the jack-fruit; otherwise they will be smeared with its
sticky milk. First secure the oil of divine love, and then set your hands to the duties of the world.

"But one must go into solitude to attain this divine love. To get butter from milk you must let it set into
curd in a secluded spot: if it is too much disturbed, milk won't turn into curd. Next, you must put aside
all other duties, sit in a quiet spot, and churn the curd. Only then do you get butter.

"Further, by meditating on God in solitude the mind acquires knowledge, dispassion, and devotion. But
the very same mind goes downward if it dwells in the world. In the world there is only one thought:
'woman and gold'.1

"The world is water and the mind milk. If you pour milk into water they become one; you cannot find
the pure milk any more. But turn the milk into curd and churn it into butter. Then, when that butter is
placed in water, it will float. So, practise spiritual discipline in solitude and obtain the butter of
knowledge and love. Even if you keep that butter in the water of the world the two will not mix. The
butter will float.

"Together with this, you must practise discrimination. 'Woman and gold' is impermanent. God is the
only Eternal Substance. What does a man get with money? Food, clothes, and a dwelling-place —
nothing more. You cannot realize God with its help. Therefore money can never be the goal of life. That
is the process of discrimination. Do you understand?"
(1. ^The term "woman and gold", which has been used throughout in a collective sense, occurs again
and again in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna to designate the chief impediments to spiritual progress.
This favourite expression of the Master, "kaminikanchan", has often been misconstrued. By it he meant
only "lust and greed", the baneful influence of which retards the aspirant's spiritual growth. He used the
word "kamini", or "woman", as a concrete term for the sex instinct when addressing his man devotees.
He advised women, on the other hand, to shun "man". "Kanchan", or "gold", symbolizes greed, which is
the other obstacle to spiritual life.)

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Volume 1,

Master and Disciple, March 1882

HOW TO DEAL WITH HARMFUL PEOPLE - 1

MASTER (to Narendra): "How do you feel about it? Worldly people say all kinds of things about the
spiritually minded. But look here! When an elephant moves along the street, any number of curs and
other small animals may bark and cry after it; but the elephant doesn't even look back at them. If people
speak ill of you, what will you think of them?"

NARENDRA: "I shall think that dogs are barking at me."

MASTER (smiling): "Oh, no! You mustn't go that far, my child! (Laughter.) God dwells in all beings. But
you may be intimate only with good people; you must keep away from the evil-minded. God is even in
the tiger; but you cannot embrace the tiger on that account. (Laughter.) You may say, 'Why run away
from a tiger, which is also a manifestation of God?' The answer to that is: 'Those who tell you to run
away are also manifestations of God — and why shouldn't you listen to them?'

"Let me tell you a story. In a forest there lived a holy man who had many disciples. One day he taught
them to see God in all beings and, knowing this, to bow low before them all. A disciple went to the
forest to gather wood for the sacrificial fire. Suddenly he heard an outcry: 'Get out of the way! A mad
elephant is coming!' All but the disciple of the holy man took to their heels. He reasoned that the
elephant was also God in another form. Then why should he run away from it? He stood still, bowed
before the animal, and began to sing its praises. The mahut of the elephant was shouting: 'Run away!
Run away!' But the disciple didn't move. The animal seized him with its trunk, cast him to one side, and
went on its way. Hurt and bruised, the disciple lay unconscious on the ground. Hearing what had
happened, his teacher and his brother disciples came to him and carried him to the hermitage. With the
help of some medicine he soon regained consciousness. Someone asked him, 'You knew the elephant
was coming — why didn't you leave the place?' 'But', he said, 'our teacher has told us that God Himself
has taken all these forms, of animals as well as men. Therefore, thinking it was only the elephant God
that was coming, I didn't run away.' At this the teacher said: 'Yes, my child, it is true that the elephant
God was coming; but the mahut God forbade you to stay there. Since all are manifestations of God, why
didn't you trust the mahut's words? You should have heeded the words of the mahut God.' (Laughter.)
"It is said in the scriptures that water is a form of God. But some water is fit to be used for worship,
some water tor washing the face, and some only for washing plates or dirty linen. This last sort cannot
be used for drinking or for a holy purpose. In like manner, God undoubtedly dwells in the hearts of all —
holy and unholy, righteous and unrighteous; but a man should not have dealings with the unholy, the
wicked, the impure. He must not be intimate with them. With some of them he may exchange words,
but with others he shouldn't go even that far. He should keep aloof from such people."

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,

Ch. 1,

Master and Disciple,

March, 1882

PART 2 - DEALING WITH HARMFUL PEOPLE

A DEVOTEE: “Sir, if a wicked man is about to do harm, or actually does so, should we keep quiet then?”

MASTER; “A man living in society should make a show of tamas to protect himself from evil-minded
people. But he should not harm anybody in anticipation of harm likely to be done him.

“Listen to a story. Some cowherd boys used to tend their cows in a meadow where a terrible poisonous
snake lived. Everyone was on the alert for fear of it. One day a brahmachari was going along the
meadow. The boys ran to him and said; ‘Revered sir, please don’t go that way. A venomous snake lives
over there.’ ‘What of it, my good children?’ said the brahmachari. ‘I am not afraid of the snake. I know
some mantras.’ So saying, he continued on his way along the meadow. But the cowherd boys, being
afraid, did not accompany him. In the mean time the snake moved swiftly toward him with upraised
hood. As soon as it came near, he recited a mantra, and the snake lay at his feet like an earthworm. The
brahmachari said: ‘Look here. Why do you go about doing harm? Come, I will give you a holy word. By
repeating it you will learn to love God. Ultimately you will realize Him and so get rid of your violent
nature.’ Saying this, he taught the snake a holy word and initiated him into spiritual life. The snake
bowed before the teacher and said, ‘Revered sir, how shall I practise spiritual discipline?’ ‘Repeat that
sacred word’, said the teacher, ‘and do no harm to anybody.’ As he was about to depart, the
brahmachari said, ‘I shall see you again.’

“Some days passed and the cowherd boys noticed that the snake would not bite. They threw stones at
it. Still it showed no anger; it behaved as if it were an earthworm. One day one of the boys came close to
it, caught it by the tail, and, whirling it round and round, dashed it again and again on the ground and
threw it away. The snake vomited blood and became unconscious. It was stunned. It could not move. So,
thinking it dead, the boys went their way.

“Late at night the snake regained consciousness. Slowly and with great difficulty it dragged itself into its
hole; its bones were broken and it could scarcely move. Many days passed. The snake became a mere
skeleton covered with a skin. Now and then, at night, it would come out in search of food. For fear of
the boys it would not leave its hole during the day-time. Since receiving the sacred word from the
teacher, it had given up doing harm to others. It maintained its life on dirt, leaves, or the fruit that
dropped from the trees.

“About a year later the brahmachari came that way again and asked after the snake. The cowherd boys
told him that it was dead. But he couldn’t believe them. He knew that the snake would not die before
attaining the fruit of the holy word with which it had been initiated. He found his way to the place and,
searching here and there, called it by the name he had given it. Hearing the teacher’s voice, it came out
of its hole and bowed before him with great reverence. ‘How are you?’ asked the brahmachari. ‘I am
well, sir’, replied the snake. ‘But’, the teacher asked, ‘why are you so thin?’ The snake replied: ‘Revered
sir, you ordered me not to harm anybody. So I have been living only on leaves and fruit. Perhaps that has
made me thinner.’

“The snake had developed the quality of sattva; it could not be angry with anyone. It had totally
forgotten that the cowherd boys had almost killed it.

“The brahmachari said: ‘It can’t be mere want of food that has reduced you to this state. There must be
some other reason. Think a little.’ Then the snake remembered that the boys had dashed it against the
ground. It said: ‘Yes, revered sir, now I remember. The boys one day dashed me violently against the
ground. They are ignorant, after all. They didn’t realize what a great change had come over my mind.
How could they know I wouldn’t bite or harm anyone?’ The brahmachari exclaimed: ‘What a shame! You
are such a fool! You don’t know how to protect yourself. I asked you not to bite, but I didn’t forbid you
to hiss. Why didn’t you scare them by hissing?’
“So you must hiss at wicked people. You must frighten them lest they should do you harm. But never
inject your venom into them. One must not injure others.

“In this creation of God there is a variety of things: men, animals, trees, plants. Among the animals some
are good, some bad. There are ferocious animals like the tiger. Some trees bear fruit sweet as nectar,
and others bear fruit that is poisonous. Likewise, among human beings, there are the good and the
wicked, the holy and the unholy. There are some who are devoted to God, and others who are attached
to the world.

- Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,

Ch. 1,

Master and Disciple,

March, 1882

THE NET OF MAYA AND THE FOUR TYPES OF PEOPLE

"Men may be divided into four classes: those bound by the fetters of the world, the seekers after
liberation, the liberated, and the ever-free.

"Among the ever-free we may count sages like Narada. They live in the world for the good of others, to
teach men spiritual truth.

"Those in bondage are sunk in worldliness and forgetful of God. Not even by mistake do they think of
God.

"The seekers after liberation want to free themselves from attachment to the world. Some of them
succeed and others do not.

"The liberated souls, such as the sadhus and mahatmas, are not entangled in the world, in 'woman and
gold'. Their minds are free from worldliness. Besides, they always meditate on the Lotus Feet of God.

"Suppose a net has been cast into a lake to catch fish. Some fish are so clever that they are never caught
in the net. They are like the ever-free. But most of the fish are entangled in the net. Some of them try to
free themselves from it, and they are like those who seek liberation. But not all the fish that struggle
succeed; A very few do jump out of the net, making a big splash in the water. Then the fishermen shout,
'Look! There goes a big one!' But most of the fish caught in the net cannot escape, nor do they make any
effort to get out. On the contrary, they burrow into the mud with the net in their mouths and lie there
quietly, thinking, 'We need not fear any more; we are quite safe here.' But the poor things do not know
that the fishermen will drag them out with the net. These are like the men bound to the world.

"The bound souls are tied to the world by the fetters of 'woman and gold'. They are bound hand and-
foot. Thinking that 'woman and gold' will make them happy and give them security, they do not realize
that it will lead them to annihilation. When a man thus bound to the world is about to die, his wife asks,
'You are about to go; but what have you done for me?' Again, such is his attachment to the things of the
world that, when he sees the lamp burning brightly, he says: 'Dim the light. Too much oil is being used.'
And he is on his death-bed!

(The term "woman and gold", which has been used throughout in a collective sense, occurs again and
again in the teachings of Sri Ramakrishna to designate the chief impediments to spiritual progress. This
favourite expression of the Master, "kaminikanchan", has often been misconstrued. By it he meant only
"lust and greed", the baneful influence of which retards the aspirant's spiritual growth. He used the
word "kamini", or "woman", as a concrete term for the sex instinct when addressing his man devotees.
He advised women, on the other hand, to shun "man". "Kanchan", or "gold", symbolizes greed, which is
the other obstacle to spiritual life.)

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna,

Ch. 1,

Master and Disciple,

March, 1882

DON’T HELP OTHERS

When I try to help “others”, I’m already drawing a line between I and others. Instead, cut down your
own ego. When there’s no “I”, there’s no “others” as well. At that point, feeding other mouths will as as
effortless as feeding your own, as the “others” have disappeared. The helping hand will then come as
plain and simple as breathing.
On the other hand, if you try to feed “others”, you’re only feeding your own ego. You’ll expect the
beneficiaries to be your slaves. You’ll live your entire life waiting for a return. You’ll click a selfie and
update your status on Facebook as a great hero, like a blood donor or a helper.

Without “I” and “You”, a human body will automatically help another body as if it’s a part of its own.
There won’t be any need to assert the word “help”.

Therefore, don’t help “others”; rather help yourself cut off your own ego. There are no others.

DON’T TRY TO PLAY THE SOCIAL REFORMER

Most of our minds are quite muddy. As confused beings, we don’t even know who we really are. Our
truths are merely ideas borrowed from the society. Still we want our society to be as we think. What can
a chaotic mind create? - Only chaos.

Before showing way to a blind, please be certain that you aren’t blind yourself; and if so, please have
your own vision first.

Why?

Because "And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)

Before lighting up other candles, please make sure that, in order to provide the fire, you have your own
candle lit up.

“If you want to be a reformer, the first one to reform is yourself”

- Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda

WHY SHOULD I?

When I was a kid, when anyone would suggest me anything, I would think, “Why should I? How much
toys and chocolates would that bring?”

When I was a teenager, I would reply to the same suggestion as, “Why should I? How much marks would
that bring?”

In my adulthood, I would reply, “Why should I? How much wealth would that bring?”
In my old age, I would reply, “Why should I? How much lost health would that restore? How much more
could that make me live?”

INFERENCE - The yardstick of value keeps on changing with age. Today’s standards are tomorrow’s
rubbish. What’s valuable for us now might be turned worthless later.

Whatever that is accumulated from the external world is subject to such modifications. $$$, degrees,
health, thoughts - All are borrowed from outside, and hence, vulnerable.

Conversely, that which cannot be gained or obtained is invaluable and priceless. That means, it’s always
been there with us. Look for it - It’s the only solace, the ultimate refuge.

FAITH, TRUST AND EVIDENCE

One fine morning, my neighbor said, “Your parents might not be real. What evidence do you have? You
have every right to ask.”

So, I fell for his words and asked for proof of parenthood (DNA test)...and ...that was the end of a sweet
relationship. Years of trust and faith got lost in one question.

INFERENCE -

Life is not a courtroom. We perform most activities based on faith alone. We board a transport without
looking for evidence of the driver’s competence. We sit on a chair without looking for evidence of its
stability.

Moreover, there are certain relationships which are built on faith and trust, and asking for evidence in
those situations is like stabbing into the very heart of unity and integrity.

Remembering the words of Sadhguru -

“One should use information and logic as a drunkard would use a lamp post, only for support, not for
illumination.”

THERE ARE NO ATHEISTS

Theists say, “God exists.” Atheists say, “It doesn’t.” But both get utterly confused when asked, “What do
you precisely mean by ‘God’?” This signifies the human tendency to conclude without having clarity of
thought.

A man used to mistake the moon for the sun. So, when asked about sunlight, he used to complain, “The
sun is pretty weak.”

Similarly, if someone mistakes God for a judge sitting up there, it’s the fault of her opinion.

The Vedic/Yogic definition of God is Existence-Consciousness.

So, if I deny God, it’s like saying “I don’t exist and I’m unconscious,” which is a contradiction in terms, an
oxymoron.

It’s just like saying, “I don’t have a tongue.” (Which is baseless as a person couldn’t have spoken these
words without a tongue).

(Concept from Adi Shankaracharya).

The “I am”-ness is even prior to thought.

How can you know the presence of others’ eyes? By seeing them - That’s the proof. But, how can you
know of your own eyes? You don’t need a mirror. The very act of seeing is a proof.

Similarly, you may need proof of others’ existence, but do you ever need proof of yours? No. Your
awareness itself breathes the reality of your existence.

IF EXISTENCE IS THEISM, THEN ATHEISM IS NON-EXISTENCE.

In fact, God doesn’t exist, for God is existence itself.

God is not conscious, God is consciousness itself.

Inference -

Confusion is the seed of all discord. Therefore, it is imperative to have CLARITY OF THOUGHT. One
should be clear on what to believe or disbelieve.
THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSE

I don’t know anyone who has witnessed the birth of the universe. So, for a neutral thinker, all concepts
are assumptions, be it science or religion. Even the Big Bang model built upon indirect evidences is still a
concept.

Now, let’s test the creator model on the basis of logical reasoning.

For creating anything, two entities are required - An intelligent cause and a material cause. As for
example, for making a pot, the potter is the intelligent cause and clay is the material cause.

Here comes the 2 creator concepts -

1. The conventional religious concept - The potter and the pot concept - God as the potter created the
universe as the pot. BUT WHERE IS THE CLAY? That’s the most important argument - If the intelligent
cause is God, then what is the material cause, i.e., what was the substance out of which God made it?
Conventional religion has no answer.

2. The Advaita Concept -

The intelligent cause and the material cause are one and the same. In other words, the potter, clay and
the pot are one, i.e., God created the universe out of itself. It’s like a spider weaving a web out of its
own substance, residing in it and consuming it up in the end. (That corresponds to the Oscillating
Universe Theory - Big Bang, expansion and contraction followed by Big Crunch, and the sequence
repeats in infinite cycles)

The Advaita Concept therefore means that the universe is nothing but an appearance of God Just like a
wave is an appearance of water, a pot is an appearance of clay, a chair is an appearance of wood and a
bangle is an appearance of gold.

God is therefore, inseparable from the universe.

References - Mundaka Upanishad and other texts

IS THERE ANY SCIENTIFIC LOGIC IN THE AGE-OLD ADAGE BY THE SAINTS. - “SAB MAYA HAI”
(EVERYTHING IS ILLUSION)?
We have conceptualised our universe based on the information conveyed to us by our receivers called
sense organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin).

HOW FAITHFUL ARE THEY?

From evolutionary perspective, our sense organs are not supposed to convey truth. They selectively
convey that information which is helpful for our preservation and propagation. In layman terms, they
are BIASED.

We can only perceive a narrow spectrum of light, sounds, smell etc.

- That means, sense organs are very limited receivers.

- Therefore, outside information conveyed to us is incomplete.

- The previous memory database and subconscious tendencies also distort the data.

- Hence, our idea of universe based on sense information is faulty.

EXAMPLE -

What happens when we see a table?There’s something which reflects light to our eyes.

- That is converted into electric signals

- Interpreted by the brain and influenced by the mind.

- Then our brain/mind matches that interpretation with past experience and tells us that this is a
“table.”

What originally there is, we know not - What we call a table is simply an interpretation of a group of
signals generated from a sensory apparatus(eyes).

The original unknowable object out there is the ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

Our interpretation of that object as “table” after getting filtered by the senses and tainted by the mind,
is the RELATIVE TRUTH.

CONCLUSION - The universe is thus, an ILLUSION or a relative truth.

So, when the saints call everything as “Maya” (illusion), why do we laugh and troll?

INFERENCE-

1. Respect everything and everyone. Never think that “my truth is the only truth”.
2. Always think twice before dismissing anything as “mumbo jumbo.”

3. ATTACHMENT TO SOME PRINCIPLE OR REPULSION FOR SOME OTHER SHOULD NOT EXCEED THE LOVE
FOR SEEKING TRUTH.

That’s the way of knowing the truth.

WHERE IS THE UNIVERSE? - NO FAITH, ONLY LOGIC.

To begin with, I ask you, “Where do you see your cell phone?”

Does this question sound stupid?

Your answer might be, “Why? in the hand, of course?”

Wrong.

Light from the cell phone strikes the eyes - Electrical signals reach the occipital lobe of the brain and an
image is formed and perceived internally. External location is what the brain tells you of the cell phone,
but the actual perception is internal.

As you’re conscious of this cell phone, this is the same as saying that the cell phone is perceived in
consciousness. Therefore, technically, you perceive the cell phone not in your hands, but internally, in
consciousness.

This is true for all senses.

Similarly, the chair, the room, the city, the sky, the stars and all ...Where do you perceive them? The
brain gives an impression of “outside” but, technically, you perceive them internally, in consciousness.
THE UNIVERSE IS, THEREFORE, AN INTERNAL PERCEPTION IN CONSCIOUSNESS.

Another way of saying this is - THE OUTER WORLD IS A MANIFESTATION OF THE INNER WORLD.

IMPLICATIONS -

1. As the individual perceptions differ, your universe is not mine.

The universe of a congenitally blind person is markedly different from the universe of a person with
vision.

IF YOU HAPPEN TO HAVE INFRA RED VISION, THE UNIVERSE WILL GROSSLY CHANGE.
2. You may find that after a great vacation, when you return home, everything and everyone including
your loved ones appear to change slightly. Your work in the office will be slightly less stressful. It’s just
because your internal psyche has changed and therefore, the universe appears to change with this
change in mental balance.

Hence, any change in inner dimensions affects outside.

YOUR CREATIVE POTENTIAL

Do you ever realise what a dream is?

You forget that your body is on bed and you venture into a mind-manufactured world.

You may see a big river with you standing on the bank. Here is you on the bank and there is the river and
the sky. Where is “here” and “there” in your dreamland? It’s all in you. The whole dream universe is
your creation. The person (you) standing on the bank, the river, the sky - Everything is you. This is your
creative potential.

Now, let’s take a step further.

WHAT HAPPENS TO THE UNIVERSE WHEN YOU SLEEP? (From your first person experience)

The gross sights and sounds turn into subtler realm of thoughts, which finally gets converted into the
unmanifest during deep sleep.

This is the same as saying that the gross universe contracts into a subtler universe and finally gets
crunched into nothingness - The Big Crunch.

What happens when you wake up?

The unmanifest converts into subtle thoughts and then into gross sights and sounds.

That’s the same as saying that out of nothingness emerges a subtle universe which ultimately expands
into the gross universe - The Big Bang.

In this way, the Big Bang and the Big Crunch goes on happening alternately and the infinite cycles of
universe are repeated - And you witness it everyday.

Conclusion - The birth and the death of the universe too occur in consciousness.
References -

Based on the talks of

1. Varahamihira - The ancient astrophysicist.

2. Shri Ramana Maharshi

3. Others

MODERN SCIENCE AND TRUTH - IS MODERN SCIENCE DEPENDABLE? OR IS IT THE GREATEST THREAT TO
NATURE?

Q. Modern science is the foundation of truth. Isn’t it?

Ans. Scientific knowledge is just human database. It’s always subject to change.

1. A substance that is termed “medicine” today might be declared as “poison” tomorrow based on
newer information.

2. Modern science once said, “Light is particle,” and we all exclaimed, “wow.”

Modern science said later, “No, light is wave,” and we all exclaimed, “wow.”

And still later, modern science said, “No, light is both particle and wave,” and we kept on exclaiming,
“wow.”

Reason - Whatever comes from the mouth of the scientists is swallowed as truth.

3. A few years ago, serum LDL was a hated chemical. Now it has become adorable.

4. Mustard oil and sunflower oil - Each alternately becomes the winner and loser every few years.

Therefore, if modern science itself is so fickle, how can I accept this changing entity to be the foundation
of my thoughts? How can I depend on this frequently changing subject?

Moreover, modern science will always remain infant compared to the universal knowledge, because
what we don’t know will always exceed what we know.
WHY SHOULD THIS FICKLE MINDED INFANT BE THE YARDSTICK OF TRUTH? A truth is not supposed to
change. Only lies do.

Q. Why do you say “modern science” and not “science”?

Ans. Originally, science was supposed to be a quest for the unknown. It’s not based on any reward.

But, sadly, modern science is a slave of technology. Technology is a byproduct of science, (like cell
phones). The sole purpose of most modern research is some reward in the form of technology, finance
and power. After all, research funding is very important.

Q. What has modern science given us?

Ans. Comfort, comfort and comfort.

Q. We own technology to make our life comfortable. What’s wrong?

Ans. Whenever we own a gadget like a car or cell phone, the gadget in turn, starts owning us, so much
so that our mental and physical health get badly affected.

Q. What about life expectancy? (Previously, we died at 30s, but now we live much longer.)

Ans. Wrong. CURRENT LIFE EXPECTANCY IS JUST 10 YEARS. Now, we live up to just 10 years of age. After
that life stops and time is spent being zombies.

Q. Come on! Modern science has improved our lives so much! Why don’t you wake up to this fact?

Ans. How many of us actually live?

Is it worth living like a football being kicked by one situation after another? Is it worth living like robotic
slaves of patterned thoughts and behaviour? A ship that is being continually tossed by storms?

Facts should surpass assumptions and the fact is that life sucks frequently for most - Just look at anxiety
and depression that has plagued the society. Suffering is there in plenty, and it’s very unpleasant.

Q. What about health?

Ans. Thanks to modern science, we breathe poison, drink poison and eat poison since birth.
Q. Do you mean to say that we should become uncivilised? Start living in caves and jungles and start
worshipping nature? How rubbish.

Ans. Is a cave man worshipping nature uncivilised? And is a scientist destroying nature at a push of a
button civilised? Is it what you call civilisation?

Q. What about the sophisticated cities?

Ans. We want to replace nature with an artificial world and fail miserably, because we ARE nature, and
not anything apart from Her.

Q. Modern science has given us so many weapons to fight diseases.

Ans. And in the fight against diseases, there have been newer and stronger diseases, much more than
what we had started with. War against bacteria results in newer diseases with more deadly resistant
bacteria.

War against nature creates more problems than the problem for which war was created.

We are not separate from nature but we ARE nature too. War against bacteria is like a civil war because
bacteria is the same nature that we humans are, and civil war has no winners but only losers. So, spend
more effort preventing diseases by living in natural harmony rather than warring against diseases from
living in disharmony.

Q. Aren’t you ashamed of yourself? You use modern science as your profession and yet not identifying
yourself with it?

Ans. When I wear a shirt, I respect it and use it to cover my nakedness. That doesn’t mean I have to
attach it to my skin and identify myself with it.

Similarly,

I respect science and use it to aid healing. But that doesn’t make it my identity. I’m neither closely
attached to science and nor biased by it.

I’m ever free from science, never enslaved by it.

Q. Aren’t we an advanced race?

Ans. Why do we take for granted that our ancestors were dumbasses and we, the modern scientific men
are smartasses?

Any catastrophe wiping out mankind and leaving the cockroaches intact will make the cockroach the
most advanced race.
Don’t lose your humility. Tables can turn anytime.

Q. If not modern science, then what should be taken as truth?

Ans. Truth is in itself. You have to seek it honestly and earnestly, not take anything as its substitute.

Knowledge of truth is transcendence of suffering.

All depends on what one values most. The frog which gives highest priority to the limited well and
doesn’t accept anything called ocean will go on residing inside the limited well. But, the frog which
yearns freedom from this patterned life of well will ultimately reach the ocean.

INFERENCE -

Modern science may help you in seeking truth but it is not the truth. A SIGNBOARD IS NOT THE
DESTINATION.

Modern science is good for support but not for illumination.

THE BUCKET OF DEATH

There was a vast expanse of water, but nameless and formless. So, it decided to create some form by
pouring itself into numerous buckets of different shapes and sizes. The limitless formless water thereby,
took limited shapes of so many buckets. Each bucket shaped water dealt with the other as if they were
different. But the buckets were impermanent. They cracked after sometime, and the water from the
damaged bucket was poured into another new one to preserve form of the formless water.

A long time passed, and the water in the buckets forgot its real nature. It became convinced that it is
just a little bucket that is going to end soon.

One little bucket saw other buckets cracking and started living in insecurity. Other buckets told it that
there’s an entity called “water.” Only that can help it allay its fear.

But, fear of death continued haunting. The little bucket cursed “water” as a “sadist” for inducing fear of
death.

Later, it discovered that FEAR OF END IS A CALL FOR END OF FEAR, fear is a faint message from its own
true nature of water to turn homewards. That was soon possible with a realisation - The realisation that
its real nature is not a bucket but formless water in the shape of a bucket. After this discovery, there was
another equally stunning discovery, that what he called “others” were also the same principle as it is -
Water.

It were the buckets that created the illusion of different little beings all along. In truth, as water, it exists
everywhere and everyone in small and big buckets likewise. The only purpose of its existence as a
bucket has been to know its real nature as water.

In this way, the scared, mortal bucket became fearless and immortal as water.

“The jnani gives up his identification with worldly things, discriminating, 'Not this, not this!' Only then
can he realize Brahman. It is like reaching the roof of a house by leaving the steps behind, one by one.
But the vijnani, who is more intimately acquinted with Brahman, realised something more. He realizes
that the steps are made of the same materials as the roof: bricks, lime, and the brick-dust. That which is
realized intuitively as Brahman through the eliminating process of 'Not this, not this' is then found to
have become the universe and all its living beings. The vijnani sees that the Reality which is nirguna,
without attributes, is also saguna with attributes.

A man can not live on the roof a long time. He comes down again. Those who realize Brahman in
samadhi come down also and find that it is Brahman that has become the universe and its living beings.
In the musical scale there are the notes sa, re, ga, ma, pa, dha, and ni; but one cannot keep one's voice
on 'ni' a long time. The ego does not vanish altogether. The man coming down from samadhi perceives
that it is Brahman that has become the ego, the universe, and all living beings. That is known as vijnana.”

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

[August 5, 1882]

DEATH - THE TERM THAT YOU ALWAYS AVOID

“....IS NO MORE” is rubbish. Why? if the one referred to is a body, then it’s still there. If that’s a mind,
then we can’t say whether it’s there or not because we have never perceived anyone else’s mind, not
even by the most sophisticated machine.

Honestly, what is it that you experience? An universe of stuffs all around including your own body. These
stuffs were formed, they keep changing moment to moment and at one time they completely cease to
be the one that was there to begin with. This is what you call “death.” This happens with plants, animals,
humans, planets, stars and so on. Time doesn’t spare anything. That’s why, in Sanskrit, both death and
time were assigned the same name “Kala.”

If everything and everyone in the universe keep dying and you also belong to that place, then you must
have to die according to logic. In other words, what was born, must die.

ARE YOU AFRAID OF DEATH? (Repression by Prof. Sigmund Freud)

In a class, the teacher finds a group of disturbing kids and turns them out. But the naughty ones
continues disturbing the class by rattling at the windows and peeping in. Death is similar. You repress it,
but it continues rattling your mind subconsciously and peeping in occasionally.

WHY ARE YOU AFRAID OF DEATH?

1. Suppose you are watching a movie. If you are forced to get away midway, you’ll always feel miserable.
Why? Because you want to leave only after completion of the movie. Likewise, your whole life is spent
filling up an incompleteness inside. No matter what you do, you still end up feeling incomplete.
Therefore, you don’t want to leave the scene being partial.

2. You think you’ve built an empire of thoughts, family, property etc. and you assume that death will
strip you of everything. So, you fear.

3. You fear death because you don’t know life. You live as a body while the mind lies elsewhere in the
hope of living in a secure future - a tomorrow that never comes. That’s a zombie’s life that we all live.

IMPLICATIONS OF FEAR OF DEATH

Most of our actions are prompted by this primal fear. We want to somehow become deathless.

We study, work, earn, set up family, go to a vacation and so on....all in a vain attempt for self-
preservation to gain immortality. The family man protecting his three generations wants to live through
them. The patriot dying for his country wants to live through his motherland. Not consciously, but
subconsciously. But, no matter what we do and where we go, as long as we remain in rule of time, the
body clock still ticks on towards the end.

IMMORTALITY

That’s the primal desire of mankind. Civilisations grow only for gaining deathlessness. Science and
technology are all based on extending life indefinitely. But, there’s a big defect. Death is change, and
change is a function of time. So, IMMORTALITY MEANS TIMELESSNESS.
DEATH IS A GREAT EQUALISER

Saints die and sinners die.

Kings die and paupers die.

Atoms die and universes die.

MATERIALISM FANS FEAR

What dies? You’ve only seen a material die. If you think you are a material, that will definitely die. The
more your attention runs towards materialism, death haunts you more.

WHY YOU CAN’T BE YOUR BODY -

1. THE BODY THAT YOU CALL “I” WAS NOT THE SAME BODY A NANOSECOND AGO. Most cells change
and replace themselves and after a few years, the body becomes almost another body. Body is not a
static entity but, it’s rather a river of changes.

Therefore, if you think you’re the body, then YOU DIE EVERY MOMENT AND BORN AGAIN THE NEXT
MOMENT.

2. THE BODY THAT YOU CALL “I” WAS YOUR PARENTS’ GAMETES PLUS FOOD THAT WAS ADDED TO
THEM. Nothing was ever yours to begin with.

3. Are you aware of your body? If you are the subject of experience and body is the object, THE SUBJECT
CANNOT BE THE OBJECT. Similarly, if you are aware of your mind, you can’t be your mind either.

4. If body is the centre of awareness, then the body must remember its position in bed during dream.
But, in dreams, your body is in a different land.

IS DEATH THE END?

1. Do you remember your conception? If not, why do you assume that you remember death? Your
experience of conception and death are both imaginary.

2. Do you remember anything like “SUDDENLY I BECAME EXISTENT OUT OF NON-EXISTENCE?” If not,
then you will NEVER experience anything like “I BECAME NON-EXISTENT OUT OF EXISTENCE.”
3. From your own experience, HAVE YOU EVER SEEN AN END? You have only perceived transformations
of matter and energy.

THE BELIEF THAT ATMAN/SPIRIT DEPARTS OUT OF BODY IS FICTION AND ONLY FICTION

The Atman/Spirit is the other name of existence. The body is in existence, not the other way round. So,
how will it depart? In fact, it is the body that comes and goes in existence.

LOGICALLY NO HEAVEN AND HELL

Heaven and hell are assumptions. And even if they exist, they are still ruled by time and hence, FINITE.

HOW TO GET RID OF FEAR OF DEATH?

FREEDOM IS BEFORE PHYSICAL DEATH, NOT AFTER

Know that fear of death is not for your harassment, but a reminder from your own true nature to turn
homewards. THE FEAR OF END IS A MESSAGE FOR END OF FEAR. The body will wither away and cease.
From birth, the countdown has already begun. You can’t escape death by body identification. The body-
mind system is in the purview of time and is therefore, vulnerable. But the awareness that lights up the
mind and the body is beyond the mind and hence, beyond time. Know yourself to be that truth.
Immortality is not in material existence but in the existence itself which is aware of the material.

DON’T REPRESS DEATH

We are not bothered by a rose withering in a flower vase. Why? Because we have stopped desiring its
stagnation.

Life and death are two sides of the same coin. Give up the chase for life and death will stop chasing you.
Who desires life? One who is not life, i.e., a zombie. Come alive, be one with life and with death too.

KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH IS TRANSCENDENCE OF DEATH - YOU ARE THE SAME TRUTH THAT IS LIFE, AND
THAT IS DEATH.

“Who are you to die? Let the one who was born, die. Let the one who lives to chase, die.”

- Acharya Prashant.

References -
1. Advaita Vedanta books

2. Talks of Acharya Prashant

3. Talks of Prof. Sigmund Freud

4. “The Denial of Death” by Prof. Earnest Becker

5. Lectures of Swami Sarvapriyananda

6. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

8. Lectures of Alan Watts

9. Talks of Sadhguru

STOP BLAMING OUR POLITICAL LEADERS

Since childhood, most of us have been cursing our political leaders either verbally or mentally.

One day, I walked out and found the roadside cluttered with filth and drains clogged with garbage, and I
said to myself, “We mess up here and complain when they mess up there. Obviously, that’s what most
would do in their position.”

As soon as I hit the road, so many drivers openly flouted traffic rules, and I said to myself, “We break
rules here and crib when they do the same there. Obviously, that’s what most would do in their
position.”

Then I reached the market. One shopkeeper tricked me into purchasing rotten vegetables and I told
myself, “We fool others for a hundred bucks, and complain when the men in power do the same for a
hundred million, which we call scams. Obviously, that’s what most would do in their position.”

I reached the office and found many of us shying away from work and pleasing the boss, and I said to
myself, “We prefer short cuts and complain when the men in power are doing the same. Obviously,
that’s what most would do in their position.”

I saw my friends using pirated films, songs and software, friends hiding income while paying taxes,
students buying exam papers and grades instead of studying, and I said to myself, “We prefer corruption
but have a problem when the men in power do the same. Obviously, that’s what most would do in their
position.”

INFERENCE - Before blaming the political leaders, ask yourself, “Are they some angels descending from
heaven?” No. They are you and me on a chair of power. They are our own reflections.

Therefore, OUR POLITICAL LEADERS ARE THE PROJECTIONS OF OUR OWN SUBCONSCIOUS MIND. We
deserve them as much as they deserve us.

They are as virtuous and flawed as the rest of us.

SOLUTION -

“ BEFORE YOU START POINTING FINGER, MAKE SURE YOUR HANDS ARE CLEAN” (Bob Marley)

Before looking for weeds in others’ garden, make sure that your own garden is free of them.

If you want a clean society, clean yourself first.

“The one who reforms himself will reform thousands,”. ~ Paramahansa Yogananda.

RATIONALITY AND LOGIC IN THE MYSTIC SAYINGS “NOTHING EVER HAPPENS” AND “NOTHING EVER
EXISTS”

1. NOTHING EVER HAPPENS -

Every second billions of incidents occur around you. But either you can’t perceive most of them
(because of limitations of the senses) or even if you perceive them, you dismiss them as “too
insignificant” to register into the memory. That means you selectively attend to those things around you
that you think is meaningful. Then you cook up a story out of those incidents to suit your own mental
inclinations.

EXAMPLE - Suppose Miss XYZ is mentally hurt and she goes to a park. That place is teeming with
activities - birds chirping, insects buzzing around and much more. But, there is also a boy quarrelling
with a girl. The only thing that Miss XYZ learns from the park is that life is troublesome, because her
mind, conditioned by past mental trauma, selectively picks up the argument and draws a conclusion to
justify her agenda.
INFERENCE - Nothing ever happens; we make our own version of a story from a trail of events.

2. NOTHING EVER EXISTS -

A rule of the universe is change. Body changes - You were a little kid that has transformed so much.
Mind changes - You may feel confused now, but the next moment, you might be happy or indifferent or
angry or sad.

EXAMPLE - Take an object that you feel stable. Take Mt. Kanchenjunga, for example. You think it as rock
stable. But, if you observe carefully, you’ll find that the snow pattern keeps changing. In fact, every
nanosecond, changes keep on occurring at microscopic levels, that the eyes fail to pick up.

Take your body. The body this moment is different from the body the previous moment. Cells are being
replaced with new ones; so much so that in a few years the whole body is almost replaced by another.

INFERENCE - Nothing ever exists; what exists is only a stream of changes.

Swami Vivekananda said in this context - “ The question arose that this body is the name of one
continuous stream of matter — every moment we are adding material to it, and every moment material
is being thrown oft by it — like a river continually flowing, vast masses of water always changing places;
yet all the same, we take up the whole thing in imagination, and call it the same river. What do we call
the river? Every moment the water is changing, the shore is changing, every moment the environment is
changing, what is the river then? It is the name of this series of changes. So with the mind. That is the
great Kshanika Vijnâna Vâda”

IS THERE ANYTHING UNCHANGING AT ALL?

Only the observer at the stable bank of a river can appreciate the instability of the river. Similarly, the
very fact that you are able to appreciate change in the universe, body and mind logically implies the
presence of an unchanging witness that is aware of the change. That you are.

Swami Vivekananda said - “in spite of this continuous change in the body, and in spite of this continuous
change in the mind, there is in us something that is unchangeable, which makes our ideas of things
appear unchangeable”

References -

1. Advaita Vedanta books

2. Talks of Acharya Prashant

3. The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, Volume 3

INDIVIDUALITY

“People are frightened when they are told this. They will again and again ask you if they are
not going to keep their individuality. What is individuality? I should like to see it. A baby has no
moustache; when he grows to be a man, perhaps he has a moustache and beard. His
individuality would be lost, if it were in the body. If I lose one eye, or if I lose one of my hands,
my individuality would be lost if it were in the body. Then, a drunkard should not give up
drinking because he would lose his individuality. A thief should not be a good man because he
would thereby lose his individuality. No man ought to change his habits for fear of this. There is
no individuality except in the Infinite. That is the only condition which does not change.
Everything else is in a constant state of flux. Neither can individuality be in memory. Suppose,
on account of a blow on the head I forget all about my past; then, I have lost all individuality; I
am gone. I do not remember two or three years of my childhood, and if memory and existence
are one, then whatever I forget is gone. That part of my life which I do not remember, I did
not live. That is a very narrow idea of individuality.

We are not individuals yet. We are struggling towards individuality, and that is the Infinite, that
is the real nature of man. He alone lives whose life is in the whole universe, and the more we
concentrate our lives on limited things, the faster we go towards death. Those moments alone we
live when our lives are in the universe, in others; and living this little life is death, simply death,
and that is why the fear of death comes. The fear of death can only be conquered when man
realises that so long as there is one life in this universe, he is living. When he can say, "I am in
everything, in everybody, I am in all lives, I am the universe," then alone comes the state of
fearlessness. To talk of immortality in constantly changing things is absurd. Says an old Sanskrit
philosopher: It is only the Spirit that is the individual, because it is infinite. No infinity can be
divided; infinity cannot be broken into pieces. It is the same one, undivided unit for ever, and
this is the individual man, the Real Man. The apparent man is merely a struggle to express, to
manifest this individuality which is beyond; and evolution is not in the Spirit. These changes
which are going on — the wicked becoming good, the animal becoming man, take them in
whatever way you like — are not in the Spirit. They are evolution of nature and manifestation of
Spirit. Suppose there is a screen hiding you from me, in which there is a small hole through
which I can see some of the faces before me, just a few faces. Now suppose the hole begins to
grow larger and larger, and as it does so, more and more of the scene before me reveals itself
and when at last the whole screen has disappeared, I stand face to face with you all. You did
not change at all in this case; it was the hole that was evolving, and you were gradually
manifesting yourselves. So it is with the Spirit. No perfection is going to be attained. You are
already free and perfect. What are these ideas of religion and God and searching for the
hereafter? Why does man look for a God? Why does man, in every nation, in every state of
society, want a perfect ideal somewhere, either in man, in God, or elsewhere? Because that idea
is within you. It was your own heart beating and you did not know; you were mistaking it for
something external. It is the God within your own self that is propelling you to seek for Him, to
realise Him. After long searches here and there, in temples and in churches, in earths and in
heavens, at last you come back, completing the circle from where you started, to your own soul
and find that He for whom you have been seeking all over the world, for whom you have been
weeping and praying in churches and temples, on whom you were looking as the mystery of all
mysteries shrouded in the clouds, is nearest of the near, is your own Self, the reality of your
life, body, and soul. That is your own nature. Assert it, manifest it. Not to become pure, you are
pure already. You are not to be perfect, you are that already. Nature is like that screen which is
hiding the reality beyond. Every good thought that you think or act upon is simply tearing the
veil, as it were; and the purity, the Infinity, the God behind, manifests Itself more and more.”

By Swami Vivekananda

- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Chapter 2 - Jnana Yoga

WHY IT IS FOOLISH TO ASSUME THAT ALL RELIGIONS ARE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

A stick was used by the blind to cross a street. A rogue picked up the same stick and hit someone he
used to hate. The society then stamped the stick as a “weapon of mass destruction.”

A naughty boy in his school used to stab his peers with his pencil. His parents defended him, saying, “He
is innocent; the pencil is the cause of destruction.”

EXPLANATION - Most religions are meant for peace and order, and their final objective is to culminate in
seeking of truth (spirituality). It’s just like a stick being used for support.
Nevertheless, man’s ego searches for a scapegoat to blame for its vices. The ego needs a garb to hide its
nakedness and therefore, takes the shroud of religion. It will engage in nefarious activities to fulfil its
greed and then brand some object as, “This is responsible for all the hatred. Once this is banned, we will
live happily ever after.” If religion is discarded, man will come up with another pretext to continue with
his selfish destructive tendencies.

And yes, if you want a scapegoat, modern science is a much bigger threat to nature than religion.
Without modern science, religious fanatics would have fought with stones and sticks without significant
collateral damage. Now, thanks to modern science, we have enough firepower to destroy the earth
many times over.

INFERENCE - Both religion and science are instruments like sticks and pencils. Use depends on the user,
not the instrument. Branding religion or science as means of destruction is as foolish as stamping a
pencil as a devastating weapon.

IN THE FOREST OF THE WORLD

Once, a man was going through a forest, when three robbers fell upon him and robbed him of
all his possessions. One of the robbers said, "What's the use of keeping this man alive?" So
saying, he was about to kill him with his sword, when the second robber interrupted him, saying:
'Oh, no! What is the use of killing him? Tie his hand and foot and leave him here." The robbers
bound his hands and feet and went away. After a while the third robber returned and said to
the man: "Ah, I am sorry. Are you hurt? I will release you from your bonds." After setting the
man free, the thief said: "Come with me. I will take you to the public high way." After a long
time they reached the road. At this the man said: "Sir, you have been very good to me. Come
with me to my house." "Oh, no!" the robber replied. "I can't go there. The police will know it."
This world itself is the forest. The three robbers prowling here are Satva, rajas, and tamas. It is
they that rob a man of the Knowledge of Truth. Tamas wants to destroy him. ‘Rajas’ binds him
to the world.

But Satva rescues him from the clutches of rajas and tamas. Under the protection of Satva, man
is rescued from anger, passion and other evil effects of tamas. Further, Satva loosens the bonds of
the world. But Satva also is a robber. It cannot give man the ultimate Knowledge of Truth,
though it shows him the road leading to the Supreme Abode of God. Setting him on the path,
Satva tells him: "Look yonder. There is your home." Even Satva is far away from the knowledge of
Brahman.
- Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa

“The bee came to sip the honey, but its feet stuck to the honey-pot and it could not get away.
Again and again, we are finding ourselves in that state. That is the whole secret of existence.
Why are we here? We came here to sip the honey, and we find our hands and feet sticking to
it. We are caught, though we came to catch. We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We
came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we
find that. And this comes into every detail of our life. We are being worked upon by other
minds, and we are always struggling to work on other minds. We want to enjoy the pleasures of
life; and they eat into our vitals. We want to get everything from nature, but we find in the
long run that nature takes everything from us — depletes us, and casts us aside.

Had it not been for this, life would have been all sunshine. Never mind! With all its failures and
successes, with all its joys and sorrows, it can be one succession of sunshine, if only we are not
caught.

That is the one cause of misery: we are attached, we are being caught. Therefore says the Gita:
Work constantly; work, but be not attached; be not caught.”

- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 2

WORK AND ITS SECRET

(Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 4, 1900)

“Ask nothing; want nothing in return. Give what you have to give; it will come back to you —
but do not think of that now, it will come back multiplied a thousandfold — but the attention
must not be on that. Yet have the power to give: give, and there it ends. Learn that the whole of
life is giving, that nature will force you to give. So, give willingly. Sooner or later you will have to
give up. You come into life to accumulate. With clenched hands, you want to take. But nature
puts a hand on your throat and makes your hands open. Whether you will it or not, you have to
give. The moment you say, "I will not", the blow comes; you are hurt. None is there but will be
compelled, in the long run, to give up everything. And the more one struggles against this law,
the more miserable one feels.”
- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 2

WORK AND ITS SECRET

(Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 4, 1900)

ANXIETY

A lady was drowning. In a desperate attempt to grab on to something, she gripped the hand of another
lady and started feeling safe. Unfortunately, the second lady was also sinking. Such was the strange
scene - Two drowning ladies holding on to each other in order to feel secure and comfortable.

Nevertheless, at the back of their minds, both of them knew that the other was equally unstable. This
led to fear of loss of the other. In this way, anxiety crept in and started nibbling both. “What if I lose my
support? How would I live then?”

How could the anxiety be allayed? The only solution is seeking anything that won’t sink. The first lady,
became wise and looked out for a permanent solution. And lo! She found a boat. She grabbed it, took
shelter in it and saved herself. Then what? From her point of stability, she could save the other lady too.

INFERENCE -

Such is our lives.

We are the drowning lady. We think that we are this little body that will one day, die. This fear of death
is like a splinter in our minds, driving us nuts and making us feel incomplete. We look for external
support to evade this sinking feeling of incompleteness and doom. We hold on to job, wealth, family etc.
thinking that these would relieve us. But unfortunately, we know that all our supports are as
impermanent as our body. Therefore, comes the anxiety - “What if I lose what I have or expect to
have?”

What to do? What to hold? Mind, body, external world - All are liable to be taken away. Is there
anything unchanging available in the form of a boat that doesn’t sink?

Only the observer at the stable bank of a river can appreciate the instability of the river. Similarly, the
very fact that we are able to appreciate change in the universe, body and mind logically implies the
presence of an unchanging witness that is aware of the change. That unchanging Self is the only solace,
the ultimate refuge, the boat that can buoy us out to safety.

“You have come to the orchard to eat mangoes. Eat the mangoes. What is the good of calculating how
many trees there are in the orchard, how many thousands of branches, and how many millions of
leaves? One cannot realize Truth by futile arguments and reasoning."

- The Gospel of Shri Ramakrishna

Chapter 25

CAN THE MIND BE SILENCED OR STILLED BY MERELY ASKING IT TO DO SO?

EXAMPLE 1 -

When I was in the primary school, the whole class used to shout. As soon as the teacher entered, 80
percent silenced. The teacher became furious at the remaining 20 percent and shouted, “SILENCE.”
Result - 90 percent stapled mouths. One or two daredevils still continued talking. Then the teacher
asked them to leave the classroom. They sat outside and still continued disturbing. Sometimes, they
would be peeping through the window.

Nevertheless, as soon as the teacher stepped out, the class used to become as noisy as before, if not
more.(1)

EXAMPLE 2 -

There was a wild horse that needed to be tamed. The tamer shouted, ”SILENCE,” but to no avail. No
punishment would silence it. A little silence and it would go wild again.

The tamer used a trick - He tied the beast to a long rope and allowed it to roam free in a zone decided by
the length of the rope. He gradually shortened the rope length so that the animal got accustomed to the
shorter length. Finally when the rope length was almost negligible, he set it free and found that it
remained without running.

Thus, continued but gradual discipline got ingrained in its habit and the wild was tamed.(2)
INFERENCE - The classroom and the wild horse represent the mind. The nature of a worldly mind is
turbulence. All it knows is noise. By “silence”, it only means “less noise.” SILENCE IS BEYOND MIND (as
we find in deep sleep, where mind is inactive). How can a mind suddenly trespass its borders to become
that which lies beyond, that too with just an order from itself? (1)

Tendencies can’t be removed, but replaced.

If the mind is a wavy and muddy lake -

1. How to get rid of the turbulence?

By focus or one pointed concentration (Dharana)

2. How to get rid of the mud?

“muddy water is best cleared by leaving it alone” (3) - Sit and watch as a patient observer.

References -

1. Talks of Acharya Prashant

2. Headspace

3. Alan Watts in The Way of Zen

ROLE OF EDUCATION

“The child is taken to school, and the first thing he learns is that his father is a fool, the second thing that
his grandfather is a lunatic, the third thing that all his teachers are hypocrites, the fourth, that all the
sacred books are lies ! By the time he is sixteen he is a mass of negation, lifeless and boneless. And the
result is that fifty years of such education has not produced one original man in the three Presidencies”

“Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested,
all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making assimilation of ideas. If you have
assimilated five ideas and made them your life and character, you have more education than any man
who has got by heart a whole library

খখখ খখখখখখখখখখখখখখখখ খখখখখখ খখখখখখ খ খখ খখখখখখখখখ — "The ass

carrying its load of sandalwood knows only the weight and not the value of the sandalwood."
- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 3/Lectures from Colombo to Almora/The Future
of India

ARE INEQUALITY AND DISHARMONY NECESSARY AT ALL?

There’s no inequality from the point of view of the Absolute Truth. But, in duality, there is inequality and
it pinches badly. Dozens of causes have been put forward, including karma and its effects. Here is one of
them -

Who knows the value of water? The thirsty.

Who knows the value of food? The hungry.

Who knows the value of victory? The loser.

Who knows the value of equality? The victim of inequality.

We really feel for anything only after it is lost to us. We appreciate health only after witnessing sickness.
We appreciate honesty more so, after being cheated. There will be injustice, the mind will know what
justice is, will try to set things right and plan to strive accordingly.

It is only because the mind finds disharmony externally, that it yearns to correct towards harmony, in
order to find meaning and purpose in life. The whole life is spent to fill gaps, or amend inequalities.

The moment one reaches home, its the end of the journey.

That’s why enlightenment is the end of the little person based on ego.

INFERENCE - Everything has its own place in the creation. DISEQUILIBRIUM KEEPS THE CREATION
RUNNING (TOWARDS EQUILIBRIUM). Equilibrium is the end of creation.

Swami Vivekananda said -

“True equality has never been and never can be on earth. How can we all be equal here? This
impossible kind of equality implies total death. What makes this world what it is? Lost balance.
In the primal state, which is called chaos, there is perfect balance. How do all the formative
forces of the universe come then? By struggling, competition, conflict. Suppose that all the
particles of matter were held in equilibrium, would there be then any process of creation? We
know from science that it is impossible. Disturb a sheet of water, and there you find every
particle of the water trying to become calm again, one rushing against the other; and in the
same way all the phenomena which we call the universe — all things therein — are struggling to
get back to the state of perfect balance. Again a disturbance comes, and again we have
combination and creation. Inequality is the very basis of creation. At the same time the forces
struggling to obtain equality are as much a necessity of creation as those which destroy it.

Absolute equality, that which means a perfect balance of all the struggling forces in all the
planes, can never be in this world. Before you attain that state, the world will have become quite
unfit for any kind of life, and no one will be there.”

MAYA

“Then, there is the tremendous fact of death. The whole world is going towards death;
everything dies. All our progress, our vanities, our reforms, our luxuries, our wealth, our
knowledge, have that one end — death. That is all that is certain. Cities come and go, empires
rise and fall, planets break into pieces and crumble into dust, to be blown about by the
atmospheres of other planets. Thus it has been going on from time without beginning. Death is
the end of everything. Death is the end of life, of beauty, of wealth, of power, of virtue too.
Saints die and sinners die, kings die and beggars die. They are all going to death, and yet this
tremendous clinging on to life exists. Somehow, we do not know why, we cling to life; we cannot
give it up. And this is Maya.

The mother is nursing a child with great care; all her soul, her life, is in that child. The child
grows, becomes a man, and perchance becomes a blackguard and a brute, kicks her and beats
her every day; and yet the mother clings to the child; and when her reason awakes, she covers
it up with the idea of love. She little thinks that it is not love, that it is something which has got
hold of her nerves, which she cannot shake off; however she may try, she cannot shake off the
bondage she is in. And this is Maya.

We are all after the Golden Fleece. Every one of us thinks that this will be his. Every reasonable
man sees that his chance is, perhaps, one in twenty millions, yet everyone struggles for it. And
this is Maya.

Death is stalking day and night over this earth of ours, but at the same time we think we shall
live eternally. A question was once asked of King Yudhishthira, "What is the most wonderful thing
on this earth?" And the king replied, "Every day people are dying around us, and yet men think
they will never die." And this is Maya.”

- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 2 / CHAPTER III Volume 2 / Jnana-Yoga / MAYA AND ILLUSION (Delivered in London)

“Take the case of the infinite ocean. There is no limit to its water. Suppose a pot is immersed in it: there
is water both inside and outside the pot. The jnani sees that both inside and outside there is nothing but
Paramatman. Then what is this pot? It is ‘I-consciousness’. Because of the pot the water appears to be
divided into two parts; because of the pot you seem to perceive an inside and an outside. One feels that
way as long as this pot of ‘I’ exists. When the ‘I’ disappears, what is remains. That cannot be described in
words. “

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, p. 915

“Be free, and then have any number of personalities you like. Then we will play like the actor
who comes upon the stage and plays the part of a beggar. Contrast him with the actual beggar
walking in the streets. The scene is, perhaps, the same in both cases, the words are, perhaps,
the same, but yet what difference! The one enjoys his beggary while the other is suffering
misery from it. And what makes this difference? The one is free and the other is bound. The
actor knows his beggary is not true, but that he has assumed it for play, while the real beggar
thinks that it is his too familiar state and that he has to bear it whether he wills it or not. This
is the law. So long as we have no knowledge of our real nature, we are beggars, jostled about
by every force in nature; and made slaves of by everything in nature; we cry all over the world
for help, but help never comes to us; we cry to imaginary beings, and yet it never comes. But
still we hope help will come, and thus in weeping, wailing, and hoping, one life is passed, and
the same play goes on and on.”

- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 2 / Practical Vedanta and other lectures / PRACTICAL VEDANTA PART II (Delivered in
London, 12th November 1896)
“We say Newton discovered gravitation. Was it sitting anywhere in a corner waiting for him? It
was in his own mind; the time came and he found it out. All knowledge that the world has ever
received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind. The
external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind,
but the object of your study is always your own mind. The falling of an apple gave the
suggestion to Newton, and he studied his own mind. He rearranged all the previous links of
thought in his mind and discovered a new link among them, which we call the law of gravitation.
It was not in the apple nor in anything in the centre of the earth.

All knowledge, therefore, secular or spiritual, is in the human mind. In many cases it is not
discovered, but remains covered, and when the covering is being slowly taken off, we say, "We
are learning," and the advance of knowledge is made by the advance of this process of
uncovering. The man from whom this veil is being lifted is the more knowing man, the man upon
whom it lies thick is ignorant, and the man from whom it has entirely gone is all-knowing,
omniscient. There have been omniscient men, and, I believe, there will be yet; and that there
will be myriads of them in the cycles to come. Like fire in a piece of flint, knowledge exists in
the mind; suggestion is the friction which brings it out. So with all our feelings and action — our
tears and our smiles, our joys and our griefs, our weeping and our laughter, our curses and our
blessings, our praises and our blames — every one of these we may find, if we calmly study our
own selves, to have been brought out from within ourselves by so many blows. The result is
what we are. All these blows taken together are called Karma — work, action. Every mental and
physical blow that is given to the soul, by which, as it were, fire is struck from it, and by which
its own power and knowledge are discovered, is Karma, this word being used in its widest
sense. Thus we are all doing Karma all the time. I am talking to you: that is Karma. You are
listening: that is Karma. We breathe: that is Karma. We walk: Karma. Everything we do, physical
or mental, is Karma, and it leaves its marks on us.”

- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 1 / Karma-Yoga / KARMA IN ITS EFFECT ON CHARACTER

“The beggar is never happy. The beggar only gets a dole with pity and scorn behind it, at least
with the thought behind that the beggar is a low object. He never really enjoys what he gets.

We are all beggars. Whatever we do, we want a return. We are all traders. We are traders in
life, we are traders in virtue, we are traders in religion. And alas! we are also traders in love.
If you come to trade, if it is a question of give-and-take, if it is a question of buy-and-sell, abide
by the laws of buying and selling. There is a bad time and there is a good time; there is a rise
and a fall in prices: always you expect the blow to come. It is like looking at the mirrors Your
face is reflected: you make a grimace — there is one in the mirror; if you laugh, the mirror
laughs. This is buying and selling, giving and taking.

We get caught. How? Not by what we give, but by what we expect. We get misery in return for
our love; not from the fact that we love, but from the fact that we want love in return. There is
no misery where there is no want. Desire, want, is the father of all misery. Desires are bound by
the laws of success and failure. Desires must bring misery. “

- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 2

WORK AND ITS SECRET

(Delivered at Los Angeles, California, January 4, 1900)

“Each soul is a circle. The centre is where the body is, and the activity is manifested there. You
are omnipresent, though you have the consciousness of being concentrated in only one point.
That point has taken up particles of matter and formed them into a machine to express itself.
That through which it expresses itself is called the body. You are everywhere. When one body or
machine fails you, the centre moves on and takes up other particles of matter, finer or grosser,
and works through them. Here is man. And what is God? God is a circle with circumference
nowhere and centre everywhere. Every point in that circle is living, conscious, active, and equally
working. With our limited souls only one point is conscious, and that point moves forward and
backward.

The soul is a circle whose circumference is nowhere (limitless), but whose centre is in some
body. Death is but a change of centre. God is a circle whose circumference is nowhere, and
whose centre is everywhere. When we can get out of the limited centre of body, we shall realise
God, our true Self.

A tremendous stream is flowing towards the ocean, carrying little bits of paper and straw hither
and thither on it. They may struggle to go back, but in the long run they; must flow down to the
ocean. So you and I and all nature are like these little straws carried in mad currents towards
that ocean of Life, Perfection, and God. We may struggle to go back, or float against the current
and play all sorts of pranks, but in the long run we must go and join this great ocean of Life
and Bliss.”

- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 5 / Notes from Lectures and Discourses / ON JNANA-YOGA

“If you take the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate of tendencies, the sum total
of the bent of his mind; you will find that misery and happiness are equal factors in the
formation of that character. Good and evil have an equal share in moulding character, and in
some instances misery is a greater teacher than happiness. In studying the great characters the
world has produced, I dare say, in the vast majority of cases, it would be found that it was
misery that taught more than happiness, it was poverty that taught more than wealth, it was
blows that brought out their inner fire more than praise.”

.............…..............................................

“If you really want to judge of the character of a man, look not at his great performances. Every
fool may become a hero at one time or another. Watch a man do his most common actions;
those are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man. Great
occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he alone is the
really great man whose character is great always, the same wherever he be.”

- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 1 / Karma-Yoga

CHAPTER I

KARMA IN ITS EFFECT ON CHARACTER

“If you take the character of any man, it really is but the aggregate of tendencies, the sum total
of the bent of his mind; you will find that misery and happiness are equal factors in the
formation of that character. Good and evil have an equal share in moulding character, and in
some instances misery is a greater teacher than happiness. In studying the great characters the
world has produced, I dare say, in the vast majority of cases, it would be found that it was
misery that taught more than happiness, it was poverty that taught more than wealth, it was
blows that brought out their inner fire more than praise.”
.............…..............................................

“If you really want to judge of the character of a man, look not at his great performances. Every
fool may become a hero at one time or another. Watch a man do his most common actions;
those are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man. Great
occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he alone is the
really great man whose character is great always, the same wherever he be.”

- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 1 / Karma-Yoga

CHAPTER I

KARMA IN ITS EFFECT ON CHARACTER

“You must know that there are different tastes. There are also different powers of digestion. God has
made different religions and creeds to suit different aspirants. By no means all are fit for the Knowledge
of Brahman. Therefore the worship of God with form has been provided. The mother brings home a fish
for her children. She curries part of the fish, part she fries, and with another part she makes pilau. By no
means all can digest the pilau. So she makes fish soup for those who have weak stomachs. Further,
some want pickled or fried fish. There are different temperaments. There are differences in the capacity
to comprehend.”

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

Monday, June 30, 1884

“Every being that is in the universe has the potentiality of transcending the senses; even the
little worm will one day transcend the senses and reach God. No life will be a failure; there is
no such thing as failure in the universe. A hundred times man will hurt himself, a thousand times
he will tumble, but in the end he will realise that he is God. We know there is no progress in a
straight line. Every soul moves, as it were, in a circle, and will have to complete it, and no soul
can go so low but there will come a time when it will have to go upwards. No one will be lost.
We are all projected from one common centre, which is God. The highest as well as the lowest
life God ever projected, will come back to the Father of all lives. "From whom all beings are
projected, in whom all live, and unto whom they all return; that is God."
- Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 1 / Lectures and Discourses / STEPS TO REALISATION (A class-lecture delivered in

America)

SRI RAMAKRISHNA’S LESSONS ON EGO -

“The ego is like the root of a banyan tree, you think you have removed it all then one fine morning you
see a sprout flourishing again.”

“Spirituality automatically leads to humility. When a flower develops into a fruit, the petals drop off on
its own. When one becomes spiritual, the ego vanishes gradually on its own. A tree laden with fruits
always bends low. Humility is a sign of greatness.”

“As a piece of rope, when burnt, retains its form, but cannot serve to bind, so is the ego which is burnt
by the fire of supreme Knowledge.”

- Sri Ramakrishna

“Why should we practice? Because each action is like the pulsations quivering over the surface of
the lake. The vibration dies out, and what is left? The Samskâras, the impressions. When a large
number of these impressions are left on the mind, they coalesce and become a habit. It is said,
"Habit is second nature", it is first nature also, and the whole nature of man; everything that we
are is the result of habit. That gives us consolation, because, if it is only habit, we can make and
unmake it at any time. The Samskaras are left by these vibrations passing out of our mind, each
one of them leaving its result. Our character is the sum-total of these marks, and according as
some particular wave prevails one takes that tone. If good prevails, one becomes good; if
wickedness, one becomes wicked; if joyfulness, one becomes happy. The only remedy for bad
habits is counter habits; all the bad habits that have left their impressions are to be controlled by
good habits. Go on doing good, thinking holy thoughts continuously; that is the only way to
suppress base impressions. Never say any man is hopeless, because he only represents a
character, a bundle of habits, which can be checked by new and better ones. Character is
repeated habits, and repeated habits alone can reform character.”
- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 1/Raja-Yoga/Patanjali's Yoga Aphorisms - Concentration: Its Spiritual Uses

“Can you weep for Him with intense longing of heart? Men shed a jugful of tears for the sake of their
children, for their wives, or for money. But who weeps for God? So long as the child remains engrossed
with its toys, the mother looks after her cooking and other household duties. But when the child no
longer relishes the toys, it throws them aside and yells for its mother. Then the mother takes the rice-
pot down from the hearth, runs in haste, and takes the child in her arms.”

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

p. 149

I DO NOT BEG OF BEGGARS

(By Swami Vivekananda)

“We have heard it said that a great king once went into a forest and there met a sage. He
talked with the sage a little and was very much pleased with his purity and wisdom. The king
then wanted the sage to oblige him by receiving a present from him. The sage refused to do so,
saying, "The fruits of the forest are enough food for me; the pure streams of water flowing
down from the mountains give enough drink for me; the barks of the trees supply me with
enough covering; and the caves of the mountains form my home. Why should I take any
present from you or from anybody?" The king said, "Just to benefit me, sir, please take
something from my hands and please come with me to the city and to my palace." After much
persuasion, the sage at last consented to do as the king desired and went with him to his
palace. Before offering the gift to the sage, the king repeated his prayers, saying, "Lord, give me
more children; Lord, give me more wealth; Lord, give me more territory; Lord, keep my body in
better health", and so on. Before the king finished saying his prayer, the sage had got up and
walked away from the room quietly. At this the king became perplexed and began to follow
him, crying aloud, "Sir, you are going away, you have not received my gifts." The sage turned
round to him and said, "I do not beg of beggars. You are yourself nothing but a beggar, and
how can you give me anything? I am no fool to think of taking anything from a beggar like you.
Go away, do not follow me."

- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

/ Volume 3 / Para-Bhakti or Supreme Devotion / CHAPTER VII THE TRIANGLE OF LOVE

HOW TO MAINTAIN SPIRITUALITY AND FAMILY LIFE SIMULTANEOUSLY

SHRISH: "It is extremely difficult to proceed toward God while leading the life of a householder."

MASTER: "Why so? What about the yoga of practice? At Kamarpukur I have seen the women of the
carpenter families selling flattened rice. Let me tell you how alert they are while doing their business.
The pestle of the husking-machine that flattens the paddy constantly falls into the hole of the mortar.
The woman turns the paddy in the hole with one hand and with the other holds her baby on her lap as
she nurses it. In the mean time customers arrive. The machine goes on pounding the paddy, and she
carries on her bargains with the customers. She says to them, 'Pay the few pennies you owe me before
you take anything more.' You see, she has all these things to do at the same time — nurse the baby, turn
the paddy as the pestle pounds it, take the flattened rice out of the hole, and talk to the buyers. This is
called the yoga of practice. Fifteen parts of her mind out of sixteen are fixed on the pestle of the
husking-machine, lest it should pound her hand. With only one part of her mind she nurses the baby and
talks to the buyers. Likewise, he who leads the life of a householder should devote fifteen parts of his
mind to God; otherwise he will face ruin and fall into the clutches of Death. He should perform the
duties of the world with only one part of his mind.”

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

December 26, 1883

THE FORM AND THE FORMLESS

"Well, what suits your taste — God with form or the formless. Reality? But to tell you the truth, He who
is formless is also endowed with form. To His bhaktas He reveals Himself as having a form. It is like a
great ocean, an infinite expanse of water, without any trace of shore. Here and there some of the water
has been frozen. Intense cold has turned it into ice. Just so, under the cooling influence, so to speak, of
the bhakta's love, the Infinite appears to take a form. Again, the ice melts when the sun rises; it
becomes water as before. Just so, one who follows the path of knowledge — the path of discrimination
— does not see the form of God any more. To him everything is formless. The ice melts into formless
water with the rise of the Sun of Knowledge. But mark this: form and formlessness belong to one and
the same Reality."

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

December 26, 1883

LOVE

(By Swami Vivekananda)

The word "love" is very difficult to understand; love never comes until there is freedom. There is no true
love possible in the slave. If you buy a slave and tie him down in chains and make him work for you, he
will work like a drudge, but there will be no love in him. So when we ourselves work for the things of the
world as slaves, there can be no love in us, and our work is not true work. This is true of work done for
relatives and friends, and is true of work done for our own selves. Selfish work is slave's work; and here
is a test. Every act of love brings happiness; there is no act of love which does not bring peace and
blessedness as its reaction. Real existence, real knowledge, and real love are eternally connected with
one another, the three in one: where one of them is, the others also must be; they are the three aspects
of the One without a second — the Existence - Knowledge - Bliss. When that existence becomes relative,
we see it as the world; that knowledge becomes in its turn modified into the knowledge of the things of
the world; and that bliss forms the foundation of all true love known to the heart of man. Therefore true
love can never react so as to cause pain either to the lover or to the beloved. Suppose a man loves a
woman; he wishes to have her all to himself and feels extremely jealous about her every movement; he
wants her to sit near him, to stand near him, and to eat and move at his bidding. He is a slave to her and
wishes to have her as his slave. That is not love; it is a kind of morbid affection of the slave, insinuating
itself as love. It cannot be love, because it is painful; if she does not do what he wants, it brings him pain.
With love there is no painful reaction; love only brings a reaction of bliss; if it does not, it is not love; it is
mistaking something else for love. When you have succeeded in loving your husband, your wife, your
children, the whole world, the universe, in such a manner that there is no reaction of pain or jealousy,
no selfish feeling, then you are in a fit state to be unattached.”

- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 1/Karma-Yoga/The Secret of Work

DIFFERENCES IN METHODS OF SELF REALISATION

(From the lessons of Sri Ramakrishna)

“Truth is one; only It is called by different names. All people are seeking the same Truth; the variance is
due to climate, temperament, and name. A lake has many ghats. From one ghat the Hindus take water
in jars and call it "jal". From another ghat the Mussalmāns take water in leather bags and call it "pāni".
From a third the Christians take the same thing and call it "water". Suppose someone says that the thing
is not "jal" but "pāni", or that it is not "pāni" but "water", or that it is not "water" but "jal", It would
indeed be ridiculous. But this very thing is at the root of the friction among sects, their
misunderstandings and quarrels. This is why people injure and kill one another, and shed blood, in the
name of religion. But this is not good. Everyone is going toward God. They will all realize Him if they
have sincerity and longing of heart.”(1)

“A man can reach the roof of a house by stone stairs or a ladder or a rope-ladder or a rope or even by a
bamboo pole. But he cannot reach the roof if he sets foot now on one and now on another. He should
firmly follow one path. Likewise, in order to realize God a man must follow one path with all his
strength. But you must regard other views as so many paths leading to God. You should not feel that
your path is the only right path and that other paths are wrong. You mustn't bear malice toward
others.”(2)

“If there are errors in other religions, that is none of our business. God, to whom the world belongs,
takes care of that.”(3)

- The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna

(1) page 423

(2) page 514

(3) page 559

WE SEE THE WORLD AS WE ARE

(By Swami Vivekananda)

“There was a stump of a tree, and in the dark, a thief came that way and said, "That is a
policeman." A young man waiting for his beloved saw it and thought that it was his sweetheart.
A child who had been told ghost stories took it for a ghost and began to shriek. But all the time
it was the stump of a tree. We see the world as we are. Suppose there is a baby in a room
with a bag of gold on the table and a thief comes and steals the gold. Would the baby know it
was stolen? That which we have inside, we see outside. The baby has no thief inside and sees
no thief outside.”

- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 2 / Jnana-Yoga / THE REAL NATURE OF MAN (Delivered in London)

WE MAY BE MENTALLY BLIND WITHOUT KNOWING IT

Someone had said, “The problem is not people being uneducated. The problem is that they are
educated just enough to believe what they have been taught and not educated enough to question
what they have been taught.”

One person swallows the words of a religious leader as truth without understanding, while another
person swallows the words of a scientist as truth without understanding. What’s the difference? There
are many kinds of blindness, but while in religion, blindness becomes obvious, on the other hand, words
like “modern” and “science” help deny blindness very well.

Swami Vivekananda has said, “In modern times, if a man quotes a Moses or a Buddha or a Christ,
he is laughed at; but let him give the name of a Huxley, a Tyndall, or a Darwin, and it is
swallowed without salt. "Huxley has said it", that is enough for many. We are free from
superstitions indeed! That was a religious superstition, and this a scientific superstition.”

Why do we take for granted that modern people are all smartasses while the ancient ones were
dumbasses? Is a cave man worshipping nature uncivilised and laughable? And is a scientist destroying
nature at a push of a button civilised and respectable?

Swami Vivekananda had also said - “Know, slave is slave, caressed or whipped, not free; For fetters,
though of gold, are not less strong to bind;”

A cage of gold is still a cage after all.

Therefore, if you’re sceptical, then question everything, even your own thoughts. Don’t be selectively
sceptical to feed your preferences.

SOME MEMORABLE QUOTES ON MAYA AND TRUTH FROM A FILM

"What you know you can't explain, but you feel it. You've felt it your entire life, that there's something
wrong with the world. You don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in your mind, driving you
mad."
“It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when
you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you
pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.”

“What truth?”

“That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you
cannot taste or see or touch.”

“What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell,
what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain.”

“sooner or later you're going to realize, just as I did, that there's a difference between knowing the path,
and walking the path.”

“Have you ever had a dream Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake
from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world, and the real world?”

WHY THIS MISERY?

Why are plants pruned? The dead and overgrown branches are removed. It is for the benefit of the
plant.

Had the plant been able to think, it would have felt that the gardener is torturing it badly and would
have cursed him/her as “sadist” for cutting away its attachments. But, see who gains?

How are the finest swords made? By hammering into red hot metal. At first, the metal is heated, then
come blows, one after the other. Heat plus hammering = Sharper and stronger sword.

Take diamond and charcoal. Both are carbon. So, why the difference? The difference lies in the way they
are crafted by nature. Extremes of heat and pressure for a time leads to diamonds, while much less
intensities lead to charcoal.

Swami Vivekananda said -

“In studying the great characters the world has produced, I dare say, in the vast majority of
cases, it would be found that it was misery that taught more than happiness, it was poverty that
taught more than wealth, it was blows that brought out their inner fire more than praise.”(1)

“In a day when you don't come across any problems, you can be sure that you are travelling in a wrong
path.”(2)

References -

(1) The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda/Volume 1/Karma-Yoga/Karma in its Effect on Character

(2)a. NEED OF YOUTH & Thought of Swami Vivekanand

By mangesh sonwane

page -189

b. The Timeless Thoughts of Swami Vivekananda

By Birister Sharma

c. Truth or Beard

By Penny Reid

“A disciple went to his master and said to him, "Sir, I want religion." The master looked at the
young man, and did not speak, but only smiled. The young man came every day, and insisted
that he wanted religion. But the old man knew better than the young man. One day, when it
was very hot, he asked the young man to go to the river with him and take a plunge. The young
man plunged in, and the old man followed him and held the young man down under the water
by force. After the young man had struggled for a while, he let him go and asked him what he
wanted most while he was under the water. "A breath of air", the disciple answered. "Do you
want God in that way? If you do, you will get Him in a moment," said the master. Until you have
that thirst, that desire, you cannot get religion, however you may struggle with your intellect, or
your books, or your forms. Until that thirst is awakened in you, you are no better than any
atheist; only the atheist is sincere, and you are not.”
- The Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda

Volume 2

IS GOD HUMAN IMAGINATION/CREATION? IS THERE ANY LOGICAL PROOF OF GOD?

(All logic, no faith)

Q. “Does Kokakokkoo exist?”

A. No.

Before replying “No,” did you ever ask what I mean by Kokakokkoo?

Therefore, before affirmation or denial of Kokakokkoo, one must be clear of what Kokakokkoo is.

Similarly, one has to be clear of the meaning of the term “God” before making any conclusions.

Here, by God, I mean God according to Vedanta and Yoga.

Q. “What is the proof of God?”

Who is asking the question?

Whenever the question of evidence of God is raised, it is certain that a subject or experiencer is asking
for evidence of existence of an object of experience.

There is a great preconceived assumption here - That, the questioner has cooked up an idea that “God is
just an object of experience.”

This very foundation of the question is wrong. God is NOT just an object of experience. God is the
SUBJECT. No one is to be blamed, for we are programmed since birth to observe external objects
without ever considering the observer.

Q. Is God imagination?

A. Imagination is also an object of experience, and therefore, cannot adequately describe God.

Anything that you can think and conceive of, can’t comprehend God.
So, one way of knowing the answer of “Who is God?” is to know the answer to the question “Who am
I?”

“The one you are looking for is the one who is looking” - Francis of Assisi

“That which cannot be thought by mind, but by which, they say, mind is able to think: know that alone
to be the God, not this which people worship here.

That which is not seen by the eye, but by which the eye is able to see: know that alone to be the God,
not this which people worship here.”

- Kena Upanishad

References -

1. https://www.quora.com/Atma-Varta

2. Kena Upanishad

3. http://sriramakrishna.org

“Does God Exist?” by Prasanta Ray.

HOW WE LOVE LIES AND LIVE LIES

Someone said, “They are just angry because the truth you speak contradicts the lie they live.”

We all love to be comforted with a lie but avoid being hurt by a truth.

Truth is like the sun - Very harsh to face directly. We need googles of lies to turn truth into half truth so
that it becomes palatable.

Lie is like the moon with soothing rays that isn’t its own. That’s why we all love to gaze it.
The mouse runs towards something tasty but runs into a trap. It gets badly hurt but somehow escapes.
The trauma lingers for a few days, but when it spots another tasty bait, it forgets its past and goes for it,
lying itself that all will be well. But the trap bruises it again... and the vicious cycle continues.

WE ARE THAT MOUSE. All that we have been doing is running after rewards and running away from
punishments. We dream of a fantastic life of sense pleasures waiting for us at the horizon, and let
ourselves be consumed for the sake of that reward. We fall repeatedly every time we follow our
temptations, but then, like that bruised mouse, we lie ourselves, “This time, I’ll get the bliss I always
wanted.”

One definition of insanity is - “Following the same path again and again hoping different results.”

This way, we are all insane.

Someone plans for gratifying some sense pleasure. The plan gets foiled and he is hurt. He plans again
and reaches where he wanted, but either he can’t hold on to it forever, or his senses get exhausted and
the sense object loses its lustre. Then that person feels more thirsty than before. He knows that he is
not getting his fulfilment this way, but he lies himself, “I’ll go for another activity to fulfil his yearning.
This time, I’ll have all the fun in the world.”

If I tell him of the vanity of sense gratifications, he will get angry because he wants to live his lie.

Dan Millman said -

“If you don't get what you want, you suffer;

if you get what you don't want, you suffer;

even when you get exactly what you want, you still suffer because you can't hold on to it forever.”

There are the NEEDS like food, clothing, shelter etc. that one can’t do without. But, while struggling to
fulfil them, we somehow forget the fine line where those needs get over and wants start.

I’ve friends who have all amenities and objects of comfort but still slog in their workplace day and night
to have more stuffs. They suffer, but when I ask them “why?”, here is what they say -

1. “If I don’t toil so much, what will my family eat?”

2. “This is my selfless service to the society and God.”

Those who consider their slogging for stuffs as selfless service must ask themselves, “If my salary is
reduced to sustainable levels and the credit for my work is snatched, will I still continue serving?” If the
answer is NO, then you are loving your lie and living your lie like most of us.

Remembering the lines from the film “The Matrix” -

“And many of them are so inert, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect
it."

ARUNDHATI NYAYA

(The ancient art of knowing the subtle)

A father and son went to the woods for bird watching. The father suddenly called out, “Son! Look at that
bird.”

The son stood silent for a moment and asked quizzically, “Which one? All that I see are trees and trees.”

The father explained, “Can you see this stream right in front of us bubbling down? Trace it upstream a
bit and you will see a hut on its right bank. Look at the single tree arising from behind that hut and trace
it up, to its uppermost branches. There, you will find the bird.”

The son followed the directions and found the bird.

What did the father do? He directed his son’s attention from the gross that is easily seen to the subtle
that eludes the eyes.

The ‘Arundhatī- nakṣatra’ is identified as the star Alcor, belonging to the Great Bear group.

It is obligatory for newly married couples to see the Arundhatī nakṣatra. Since it is very dim and scarcely
visible, the priest shows the brighter stars nearby and then gradually directs their eyes to the real
Arundhatī. This is known as ‘Arundhati Darśana Nyāya’ or simply as ‘Arundhatī Nyāya.’ It signifies the
method of leading from the gross to the subtle, from the known to the unknown, in logic and
philosophy.(1)

The entire domain of the Vedanta scriptures is this signboard to navigate to the subtlest. They are not
for indoctrination, nor they are commandments to obey, nor they are any belief system. But, they are
the pointers to the Truth.

Reference -

(1) The Concise Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Swami Harshananda, Ram Krishna Math, Bangalore

THE REAL STORY OF A LOST CHILD

(And I know him personally)

There was one little child who lived happily with his mother. One day, he saw a bright rose blooming in
the garden just outside the door. It was beautiful and tempting. The mother warned him, “Enjoy, but
don’t grab it, you could hurt yourself.”

The child crossed the door and sat near it. He smelt it and the intoxicating scent led him hold that
beauty in his hands. No sooner had he started playing with it than a thorn hurt him. He was about to cry
for his mother, when a more beautiful rose caught his attention. He couldn’t prevent himself from being
drawn to it and hold it snugly. Then another thorn pricked him, but the sight of other roses quickly
neutralised his pain. This game continued for hours until he forgot his mother.

When it pained, he searched for his missing mother but used another rose as her substitute. His mother
was constantly watching him play in the garden, often calling him, but he was so busy with his own
game, that her soft voice went unnoticed. He kept losing himself to the beauty of the roses, until after a
bad thorn prick, he felt that a rose can’t substitute for what he was seeking. That must be something
else. This time, he wailed badly.

Another little boy appeared and said, “Hi! My name is Guru and I’m your brother. You’ve been so busy
that you can’t remember anything except the garden. I see, you’ve been searching for our mother all
along, but at a wrong place. Mother has always been watching you, and it is she who has sent me bring
you back. Come home with me.”

So, Guru led his brother homewards and united him with their mother.

STOP TRYING TO IMPROVE THE WORLD

There was an ignorant boy who always tried to improve the world. One day, he jumped into the river,
and ran ashore with a fish in his hands. He placed the fish on land and said, “Poor little thing! If it was
not for me, it would have drowned itself in the river.”

The ignorant boy is us. We know little how this mind, body and the world around works. Yet we suffer
from a continual desire of improving, that often suffocates everyone from the tight embrace of
affection.

Throughout human history, the so-called “improved” races colonised the natives and forced the latter to
change in order to “civilise” them. Yet, they kept wondering about why the “backward” races resist and
hate the invaders so much.

We create a problems and force a solution that creates a new problem, so that, the new problem is even
deadlier than the original problem for which solution was forced.
Is a cave man worshipping nature uncivilised? And is a scientist destroying nature at a push of a button
civilised? Is it what we call civilisation and improvement?

Why do we take for granted that our ancestors were dumbasses and we, the modern scientific men are
smartasses?

Any catastrophe wiping out mankind and leaving the cockroaches intact will make the cockroach the
most advanced race.

Don’t lose your humility. Tables can turn anytime.

You may ask, “Why should I not be a better surgeon or musician?” The answer is - “That’s improvisation
of a skill or a faculty in terms of a standard or goal set by the user. A masterpiece for one observer might
be mediocrity for another.”

All dissatisfaction and misery is because of this mentality - That we are incomplete and must do
something (like improving) to make ourselves complete.

Why can’t we be happy as we are?

Why do we need to do something to be happy?

Any work (like improving) arising from the centre of incompleteness never gives long lasting happiness
and contentment.

Only that work which from the centre of completeness is fulfilling.

If you watch carefully, a half moon is as perfect as the full moon.

Alan Watts said, “How do you know what's good for other people, how do you know what's good for
you?

If you say you want to improve, then you ought to know what's good for you, but obviously you don't,
because if you did, you would be improved.”(1)

Reference -

(1) Alan Watts on How to make Yourself a Better Person

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN I DIRECTLY SAY, “I AM THE SELF?”

A terrorist was on the run. Being short and thin, he easily slipped into a house and hid inside. As the
security forces barged in, to their utter surprise, they found a big figure of a saint in meditation. They
asked him, “Sir, we are looking for a slim terrorist named “ego.” Have you seen anyone around?”

The saint replied with a grin, “He is no more. There is only this great Self here.”

So, the forces connived at the consecration of the terrorist and left.

I was already identified with so many objects. Now, I include the biggest identification of all - The Self.
Therefore, the shape shifting ego continues ruling under the garb of an object called “Self.” The prison is
so holy and subtle that it becomes difficult to identify and break.

SOLUTION - Exclusion of everything that is not I (Neti-neti or not this, not that) is to precede inclusion
(Eti-Eti or all is Self) to avoid identifying oneself with an object called “Self.” Whatever that I can name,
imagine or conceptualise can’t be what I really am.