BURN THE SEEDS OF KARMA
Why do we find a situation painful or hurtful? Because we dive into the mind and go through the cubbyholes in the subconscious mind and find another experience. That in turn finds some other experience, and another experience and those all combine there. And then, you compare this experience with those previous experiences, and then the subconscious mind translates itself into the conscious mind and says, “this is pain,” or “this is ugly.”
The ugliness does not come from the object. The ugliness comes from the impressions or samskaras that are already there in the subconscious mind, and we need to rid ourselves of these.
The only way to get rid of this is through meditation, where we burn the seeds of karma, so they do not grow. We use the Universal Force that gets rid of all the karma. Then you go beyond this minimal relative law that whatever you have sown, that shall ye reap. It is very true, but in a minimal form.
Man has the ability, and this is the message for this century and the next six centuries to come, that do not feel guilty of the things that you have done, or the things that you have caused to have been done, for you can go beyond it all. It can all be discarded like a dirty garment. It can all be washed away under the shower of that Light that is deep down within us, and we have got to interpret it in life’s daily actions.
We must never say, “Oh, my baby is crying so I cannot sit down to meditate. I have to look after the baby.” True, you must look after the baby. But let the baby’s cry become a meditation to you instead of disturbing you. You comfort the child with love, and is meditation not something that generates that love? You have been given an opportunity there to generate love.
Vivekananda tells a nice story. He says you sit down to meditate and the doorbell rings. You get up from your meditation, you answer the door and do whatever is required, come back and sit down again to meditate. But remember one thing: regard yourself getting up and answering the door and coming back to be also a part of your meditation.
LIFE CAN NEVER BE SEPARATED FROM SPIRITUALITY
Life can never be separated from spirituality because, to repeat, again and again, it was never separate. The separation we find between life and God is just a creation of our mind, like a projection on a cinema screen, a movie screen, which is not real at all. Here on the screen, you will have thousands of people killed in a war or whatever. Yet there is no reality, but it seems so real.
Many times, people go to the cinema, and they see a sad scene, and they start crying. Handkerchiefs come out and yet they know that it is not real, it is just a picture being projected; but it is done because you get yourself involved in it. It affects your emotions, your feelings, it triggers off something in your mind, something that has happened to you, although you are not conscious of it. Below the conscious level, in the subconscious mind, it triggers off some happening, and then tears come rolling down from your eyes. But what would happen if you never had such an impression in the mind? Then you will not cry, for you are still aware that this is just a picture there.
What do we have to do to alleviate and rub away these things, these impressions, is to draw out that powerful Light, that beam that will banish the darkness? The little flame, which is the ego-self has no force or power compared to the bright sun. You do not even notice the flame. You can only notice the little flame if you are in a dark room. But put the candle outside in the sun, and you even do not see the flame. Bathe in the sun. Even if you get sunburned, the guru is there. He will advise you of some sunburn lotion, and it is in that heat that one finds total purity, something that is already there, but the effort lies in cognizing, realizing that purity which is inherent within you all the time.
ACCEPT THE CIRCUMSTANCES OF LIFE
Accept all the circumstances of life. Many people have a false notion that I will become better if I do not accept. But it does not work that way – it is a false notion. You cannot ignore it. To ignore something is ignorance; but accept it, accept the circumstance, and do something about it.
We bring down all these complexities of philosophy and metaphysics into practical daily living. If the action you do is performed unselfishly, then you are a karma yogi. When you perform this action unselfishly, there will naturally be devotion to those actions, and you will automatically become a bhakti yogi. When you combine bhakti and karma, some understanding will naturally dawn within you, and you are jnana yogi. You see how all these different yoga’s combine. They interpenetrate within each other, and that leads you on and spurs you on to do spiritual practices, which are raja yoga. All this is combined with the slightest thing.
We had a little girl at home, and one day I was passing her. Here in the West, it is very difficult to find servants and very expensive, very few people can afford it. But in the African countries, you can hire a servant for about twenty to twenty-five dollars per month. Here you go out for dinner for two people, and you will spend twenty-five dollars. We have this little maid, Lena is her name, she has been with us for eighteen years now. She is a little thing. She looks like a little monkey, but the love she has. I call her Hanuman because her service is so great. I am sure Hanuman never served Rama as well as she serves us. And Lata, which is my wife, cooks for five people, so what is it to fit in an extra person. It does not cost you extra, things like that. Lena has a little room, and one day I was passing her in the lounge, and she was polishing the furniture. She did not know that I was taking notice, because you can take in the whole universe at a glance, not only a little thing like that. She was polishing that furniture with such love that her face was radiant. You could see her Self flow through the polish into the furniture. A simple, uneducated girl that cannot even write her name. Look what she has combined in that action: karma, polishing; devotion; and such caring love. Unselfish love because that piece of furniture does not belong to her, and yet she cares so much for it.
See how simple life could be and how beautiful life could be. We do not even need to go into deep philosophies, for life and love and Divinity are just all but one. But I know the sufferings of people, and therefore we have so much compassion for the people, yet I know that they need it very much. Yet I know that they will not overcome the hurdles without going through that. The pot can only be cleaned up by a thorough scraping with steel wool or whatever the housewife calls it. It is needed. But if the realization is there that although it is required, it will clean the grease off the pot so that the next meal that I cook in this same pot will not have the smell or the taste of the previous meal. So, so simple.
Yet, I that could see the sufferings can only feel compassion, and at the same time, I think, “It serves you damn well right.” It is not because of any unkindness that I say that it is because of extreme kindness. When you have that compassion and extend that love to the person, the inner force is so powerful that the suffering of that person lessens, or else you pay it by instalment plan and not cash on the spot. Those are the ways gurus work, and that is one of the reasons why it is good to be associated with a guru. Books can give you a lot of knowledge, but books could never impart a spiritual force to alleviate or help or to guide or to make sufferings easier.
GOD IS EXISTENCE
That is the way to know the here and the now and the meaning of existence and the purpose of existence. For existence can only have one purpose. Here is something new I am going to tell you. The purpose of existence is to exist. That is the purpose. The purpose of existence is not to find God; He is already there. He has always been there in your life. When you find the purpose of existence is to exist and know the meaning of existence, you know God, because God is existence.
… Gururaj Ananda Yogi: Satsang US 1983 – 10