« November 2005 | Main January 2006 »
The fact is you're alive; I'm alive. In this world, many problems come, and people get stuck in them: "This should happen to me," or "That should happen to me." I have seen it and experienced it myself. The thing is, if you have patience, even that will pass.
Life is trying to teach us. We need to learn, to understand. Again and again, no matter what happens, the question always comes: What is the most important thing to you? What do you want in your life? Do you want joy? Do you want the peace of your heart?
Pay attention to that. This is what life is teaching us. Whenever our attention is swayed from that, we feel pain. We wander here and there, trying to be free of that pain. Then it becomes clear that in our life we want true happiness.
People do so many different things to find it. Recently, I was reading a newspaper, and I thought, "The stories don't change—just the names." It's the same thing over and over again: Someone did this; someone did that. "I haven't done this; I haven't done that." That's all we keep thinking about: what we need to do and all the things we haven't done. We forget to express gratitude for the gift of this life, this human body.
Who can express true gratitude except a human being? Maybe all the insects and animals express it in their own way; I don't know if they do or not, but the human being can. And it is so important that from our heart we express gratitude for what we've been given.
Truly, only the person who has experienced it can do that. So, experience what has been given to you. Don't weigh your life by what isn't there; look at what you have been given. If we weigh our lives on the scale of the heart, we will see that we have been given so much that we can't even grab it all. There is no bag we can fill with what we have been given. And we are receiving every day, every hour.
One breath. Just one breath—coming and going—what is the value of it? It is priceless. There is no amount of money or gold or diamonds in this world that is equivalent to the value of just one breath. People have made so many different advancements. They have gone to the moon. But who can bring back a breath? Nobody.
Without doing anything, we are being given this gift. The Creator doesn't say, "You're a sinner. You did this; you did that." Whether someone is in pain or in joy, the Creator is giving the gift of life equally to everyone. But what if the one who is thirsty stops going to the water? How will their thirst be quenched? That's why thirst is there. It beckons us, reminds us. All our attention goes there so that we don't forget.
In your life, don't put aside joy, because if you lose your joy, what will be left? We can waste our breath in worries or we can accept joy in our life. The one who accepts it will understand and fulfill their life.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace Permalink
Whatever you want in your life, you have to ask for it. If you don't ask for it, you won't get it. You need to be able to say, "This is what I want in my life."
Happiness. We can assume that we all want happiness. Maybe we don't. But if we do want happiness, it's there. If we want sadness, it's there, too. If we want misery, it's there. If we want joy, it's there. You have the choice every single day. And you have to choose, even though some people would rather it be totally automatic.
That happiness is what you want in your life is fundamentally a choice that has to be made every day, every moment. For some, that is exquisitely beautiful: "This is what I'm choosing." And for some, it's not. But it cannot be just once: "I've smelled a rose once; that is enough." Every flower has its intricate way of being.
You look at trees. Once upon a time, the great-great granddaddies of the trees you see were all in the ocean. They made a step to come onto land. And when they did, they had problems because they could not continue their species. In water, they could just let off seeds, and the seeds would float along, and everything was great. On land, it didn't work like that. They had to form partnerships. They had to devise strategies that would work.
Some came up with pollen, a powdery substance similar to what was used in the ocean. Others wanted to be more selective, and they formed a partnership with bees. Others didn't have access to bees, so they formed a partnership with birds. And not only that, they formed partnerships with particular types of birds. There's a flower that only works with a hummingbird that has a really long beak that can reach the nectar.
And then there are eucalyptus trees. They devised the strategy of fire: "If we can sustain ourselves in fire, everything else will get burned off, and we'll survive." So they developed a bark that is so loose it burns off—like a fire suit. The outcome is other kinds of trees have disappeared, and the eucalyptus has continued. But they have to make a choice all the time.
Every tree, when its seed is planted, is in a state of peril. Will it get the right ingredients or not? And when the time comes, it cannot procrastinate. It cannot have philosophical discussions. If the tree next to it falls, it has to be ready to go. No questions asked. No selfishness involved. No religion involved. It is a basic impulse that has been given, that has been programmed, and it works rather well.
In our lives, we get caught in all the ideas, all the logistics of, "Is this right, is that wrong?" "Give me a proof—give me a rainbow." We start to give meaning to things that are meaningless. "This is this way.This person looked at me this way. This means this. This means this."
It can be really simple: ask. No assumptions. No philosophies. If you want help, ask. Ask, and it shall be given. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. But you have to knock. You have to ring the doorbell.
Maharaji
in Maharaji: Life, Maharaji: Peace Permalink
Translated from Hindi
The things we run after will one day be left behind. This is a human being's nature. When young boys see a nice car and a beautiful girl in it, they will turn around and look at her. Their necks start to bend. This doesn't happen to an old person. A time comes in a human being's life when they can't see properly or they are in pain when they turn their neck. Nobody is exempt from it; this will happen to everyone. The things you run after will one day leave you. Whether you lose them or not, they will lose you.
The things that are valuable for us we keep safe. What is the one thing we need to keep safe? It is our joy, our happiness, our heart. If we do not guard our joy, who will guard it? Everybody worries about their own happiness. It is not possible to worry about somebody else's happiness.
If somebody is uncomfortable, I can give him a cushion. If he is hungry, I can give him food. If he is tired, I can give him a bed. If he is thirsty, I can give him a glass of water. But if he is unhappy from the inside, what type of cushion can I get him? What kind of water can I give him? What can I do for him? Nothing. When he listens to his heart's cry and takes steps to receive joy in his life, then it will become possible for him to feel that joy.
The real joy is within us. That is who we are. Not experiencing this joy in life is like eating food that has no taste. You can have everything in life and still be missing that one thing that should be there. If a human being doesn't recognize himself, how can he recognize anybody else?
When I was growing up, we had a little dog named Tommy. He was so hot tempered that he bit everyone except my father, Shri Maharaji. When Shri Maharaji sat outside, if somebody came toward him, Tommy would start barking. Everybody teased that dog. If you put a mirror in front of him, he would start barking at it, and he could spend the whole day barking at it. Why? He couldn't recognize his own face. If he couldn't recognize himself, how could he recognize anybody else?
We do the same thing. We don't recognize our own face. We look at everybody and ask: "Who is that person?" "He is black." "He is from India." "He is from China." That person is just like me. He feels pain and joy like I do. He gets hungry and thirsty; I get hungry and thirsty. He goes to sleep; I go to sleep. When it rains, that person gets wet like I do. The world has taught us how different we are. When you haven't seen your self, you will see the differences. Yet, we are all one.
How much joy can you feel? It's up to you. It depends on your effort. If you are thirsty and drink only a spoonful of water, that's how much your thirst will be quenched.
Fulfill this life. Receive joy. All the other joys have limitations, but the joy within has no limits. We are here for that joy, not for anything else - just for that joy. The outside joy will come and go, but the joy of the heart is stable. It is inside of you; it is happening, and it will stay with you until your last breath.
Maharaji
