We want our child to also meditate, but do we meditate?
Do we worship as prescribed by our shastras [scriptures]?
Then we can expect all that.
Do we have the discipline ourselves?
You are surfing all night on your phone, having the phones under your
pillows and we expect our child, “Please do not do that, my darling.
It is not good for you.
Please sleep in time.” But we do not do that ourselves.
So it has to start with ourselves.
I would like to share with you, one of my most profound experiences I
had recently while conducting a group satsangh [group meditation] in Solapur.
There, one person was building a house, a mansion rather.
And he wanted to conduct satsangh [group meditation] in his basement.
He wanted to devote this basement for people to come, from the society,
from the community and meditate there.
So he was offering it.
I said, “Okay, it is wonderful.” He said, “Would you please cut the ribbon?” I
said, “I would be happy to do it.” The house-lady offered me a tray with a lot of
roses and a cutter, garlanded with roses.
I tried to cut it.
But it does not cut it.
The reason was that the scissors was so blunt, over-used.
I tried harder and harder, and then I had to pull it [the ribbon] afterwards.
Then afterwards, I conducted meditation for everybody there.
During the meditation, it was revealed why the scissor failed to cut.
The reason is obvious-blunt scissor.
There are two parts to it, two scissors.
Over-used blade becomes blunt.
We also have a chase - happiness.
Another chase is to run away, in another direction, away from pain.
What do we use the most?
We are using both of them in a wrong way - opposite directions.
We want more and more pleasure.
So what happens?
Overused part of the scissor of our existence, becomes blunt.
And some of you who are in medicine or have some background in science and know
a little bit about drug addiction, you need more and more to keep you happy.
One cigarette puff, or one marijuana smoke, or one dose of
heroin, it is good to start with.
But you will be swimming in it later on.
Then you become totally a vegetable.
Your mind just gets ruined up because of this lust for pleasure.
So this overused side of our existence, the pleasure side of it becomes blunt.
It is used more and more and more.
The other side, we stay away from it.
I do not request that we should invite it, but if it comes, why run away from it?
Face it.
We not only punish ourselves by avoiding this pain, but we see the
children undergoing even a little bit of inconvenience, and we are agitated.
“Oh, how can he do this, or how can he go through all that?” Why not?
Unless and until that child goes through that little inconvenience, I do not
say pain, but little inconveniences.
Imagine that particular child after marriage.
Marriage means adjustment.
Adjustment means, you have to adjust to each other’s conveniences.
They will fail there, hundred percent.
And you are not going to be there at that time.
You will be only on a phone call over it and make things only worse.
That part of that scissor, representing pain, it is super-sharp, never utilised.
They cannot tolerate, even by word, that they may have to go through this
inconvenience, and they will not like it.
They rebel, just by hearing “inconvenience”.
How do we accept it?
Again, we say in the family, we can give an example, by leading an exemplary life.
What more can we do?
We want our child to also meditate, but do we meditate?
Do we worship as prescribed by our shastras [scriptures]?
Then we can expect all that.
Do we have the discipline ourselves?
You are surfing all night on your phones, having your phones under your
pillow, and you expect your child, “Please do not do that, darling.
It is not good for you.
Please sleep in time.” But we do not do that ourselves.
So it has to start with ourselves.
We have to share a lot of stories, jokes, scientific evidences, convincing them how
and why not to use digital media so much.
It is okay, have a phone.
It is for calling.
It is okay, if you like to do research, if you want to know something, it is okay.
But to abuse it, it is not good.
Mentally you are not focused.
Your mind remains so scattered, here and there.
And without focus, you can achieve nothing in life.
Lord Krishna tells him, “I am Time.” When you ponder over this, you can understand
and appreciate the beauty of this statement.
Utilise time.
Well-utilised time is like utilising Lord Himself, taking His help all the time.
Wasting time, you have lost.
You have wasted the resources, God Himself.
One of the steps, or anga [part] of Ashtanga Yoga, is Pratyahara.
What is Pratyahara?
A simple way to understand Pratyahara is ‘drawing all our
attention inward on one object’.
That is all.
When I am walking around, contemplating on my business plan, let me walk
around in the woods, or in some natural place, or I can meditate on
the project that I have in my mind.
I can close my eyes and see the various aspects related to that project.
Or, hold on to that idea and walk around alone, brood over it, contemplate over
it and see it from 360 degrees, “What if I do this, what if I do not do this?
What more can I do?
What will be the consequences?” So, you see the complete scenario.
But what do we do?
We understand or we try to understand the scenario on the go.
We are talking with a friend, “What should I do, my friend?
I have a project.
Tell me what should I do?” He will say something.
And you hang the phone.
You will call another friend, “What should I do with this project?” This is foolishness.
One must see it from 360 degrees, analyse the project and the
consequences of it, and only if you are thoroughly satisfied, jump into it.
Afterwards you do not need anybody’s solicitation.
Once the heart gives you the signal, that is the most correct one.
During this process of analysis, if you get distracted by so many
thoughts, and if you allow yourself to be distracted also, then how would
you launch that project successfully?
You have not even studied it so well.
You have not seen the consequences of it.
So, that is what I would like to at least show to the youngsters.
You are all successful people.
Even if you fail, there is still success backing you up.
Your past success will carry you through the rest of your life.
What about children?
They say that you may not give any money to your child.
It is okay.
If you give a lot of money to a foolish child, an ignorant child, he is going
to waste it and make use of it in a wrong way, because the tendency to go
downhill is always there – entropy.
You do not have to do anything, to allow any system to get decayed.
It needs energy input to sustain a system, or elevate the system.
When a child demands and you easily give away and you know he is a
foolish fellow, do not give it.
And if the child is wiser, you need not give anything at all.
He is going to stand on his legs and one day surpass you as well.
Be confident in your genetic transfer.
If you could do it, they are better than you.
And of course, you will be witnessing them from a distance and be
happy that he did it on his own.
Do not rob them of this pleasure.
Do not let them feel, “Oh, he is always there.
He is always helping me.” But then, there is no joy left in
their life, the joy of achievement.
The first-timers, who kick-start the whole progress, they are so happy,
because they achieved it on their own.
Children, we have to let them do it on their own.
If they are not interested, tell them, “You start this project.” Give the
limited amount of money, facilitate a bank loan and let them pay it off.
He will have so much of joy doing this on his own.
But do not transfer it – pain and pleasure.
Youngsters today are far more sharper than us, very sharp.
We have to somehow cultivate this tendency in them, the rightful tendency.
So, in short, if the right person is there, you need not give anything.
If a wrong person is there, all that you give will be wasted.
So, what are we worried about?
Is it not foolishness to worry about our generation?
I like to see that we transfer our legacy to them, whatever we have achieved; hard
work, see if you can transfer that much.
And they also learn this habit of working really hard and being more productive.
Productivity, efficiency, will increase by not wasting time, not wasting resources.
Again and again, I remember Gita’s conversation between Lord Krishna and Arjun.
At one point in slokas [verses], He says, “Kalosmi”.
“I am Time.” Lord Krishna tells him, “I am Time.” When you ponder
over this, you can understand and appreciate the beauty of this statement.
Utilise time.
Well-utilised time is like utilising the Lord Himself, taking His help all the time.
Wasting time, you have lost.
You have wasted the resources, God Himself.
So, one has to utilise time wisely, productively.
Morning meditation, though we do it so well, unless you carry that meditative state
along with you, the efforts that we have put into it in the morning will be wasted.
Because it is not with you now.
When you need it, it will be like Karna’s state.
When he needed it the most, he was armless.
He did not have his arrow.
When we meditate, what do we do?
In meditation, we start with a thought, right?
What do we think?
That divine presence is already there in my heart in the form of light.
This is a thought.
But with the help of this Pranahuti [Transmission], we are able to go deeper
within ourselves and feel something.
So, we have moved away from thinking of the presence of divinity to experiencing
the effect of this Transmission and feeling that state of meditativeness.
So we have moved away from thinking.
You are no longer thinking at the end of meditation.
I would say nobody is thinking of the presence of divine light at the end
of meditation, though we begin with it because we are overwhelmed by the
end of the sitting of meditation.
We start feeling things.
So through meditation, we learn how to allow our mind to move away from thinking.
Though we start with thinking, we start feeling things with
our heart later on, you see.
So what happens because of this exercise, though we meditate
for half an hour in the morning?
Every morning we meditate for half an hour, come what may.
And later on, we hold on to this state of meditation.
Like today morning you meditated, right?
After meditation, what should have been my approach?
I would simply sit for another 2-3 minutes with my closed eyes and
try to feel what has gone through.
Try to see the difference between the state of my mind before meditation
and now after doing the meditation.
Feel the difference and hold on to that difference.
Walk into the business world with that different mind.
Or if you are a housewife, continue with that meditative state.
So in short, we are holding onto a state of feeling.
We are becoming more and more receptive.
We are becoming more and more introverted though your attention is all over.
Your attention will remain 360 degrees.
“Oh I have to do this, I have to do that”, but that all these “I have to
do this, I have to do that”, all those important things will be in the background.
But your focus will mainly be on this receptivity.
That now I have moved away from thinking to remaining in tune,
remaining centered within myself.
If you meditate in the morning and let go of that state of mind that you have
cultivated, then that meditation is useless.
It is like you have money, but you have not carried it in your pocket.
You forgot your credit card, you forgot your cash.
What do you do then?
You cannot shop around in the market world.
It says zero.
So we have to carry that state of mind with us.
So, morning meditation, though we do it so well, unless you carry that meditative state
along with you, the efforts that we have put into it in the morning will be wasted.
Because it is not with you now.
When you need it, it will be like Karna’s state [Karna is one of the key protagonists
in the Indian epic Mahabharata] state.
When he needed it the most, he was armless.
He did not have his arrow.
So, to me, meditation should be extended with open eyes during day to
day activities by centering yourself.
When you have a project to conclude, then you become meditative.
Your answers will be crystal clear and crisp.
crystal clear and very crisp.
You can move, making decisions very confidently and with courage,
because you know in your heart, it is the right thing to do.
So, the function of the mind at the peak of its evolution will move away
from thinking and it will become more and more towards feeling.
There will be coherence between mind and the heart.
One philosopher said it is becoming of an eclipse, an eclipse of Conscience.
When mind and heart agree, it is like they are superimposed.
Most of our decisions are like that.
They are perfect when they are superimposed.
But when you have to decide about something and this heart says
something else, there is no eclipse.
They are just bypassing each other.
And that creates a lot of conflicts.
Under such scenarios what would I do?
I would say “Ok, mind keep quiet.
I have to make a decision based on my heart’s dictums.” That is the best thing to do.