Human beings should be able to understand the feelings of others. Without this capacity, no matter in what caste they were born, they will have low qualities. First of all, they will lack the ability to see the best qualities of others. They will be occupied with jealousy and selfishness and their lives – body and soul – become useless. When you try to understand the feelings of others, then qualities such as politeness, humbleness and holiness will naturally develop in you. (…)
In this material world we all experience difficulties and sorrows. Those who believe and have faith in God will find relief from these troubles while others will become submersed in yet more problems and sorrows.
You may have chosen to follow a particular career, seeing it as a way of improving your life. But if you want to become successful in your chosen profession, first of all you must learn from an expert and you should avoid thinking, “I know everything”. It is only in this way that you will become successful, even if you progress as slowly as a tortoise.
We should not always look at the tall tree that we cannot climb. Look at the small bird perched on the highest branch of that tall tree. Even that small bird is able to do something you cannot do. God has shown a suitable way of living and has given appropriate duties to all creatures in this world. Therefore, everyone should complete their particular duties with responsibility. Avoid researching and judging the height and breadth of others. Take your own measure and act; that is the beauty of your birth.
We are always avoiding our responsibilities and assessing others, with the result that our responsibilities are only partially fulfilled. The way to progression lies just in front of us but we are either unaware of it or else we refuse to travel that path. We are always looking for shortcuts and feel jealous of those who are traveling on the correct path. We envy their better lives and their fame, but this is like someone who wants to cross the river but doesn’t want to get their feet wet!
It is enough for one person to look silently at another – their heart will speak the words and their face will express their feelings. But instead of learning to let our hearts speak, we convey lies with our eyes, our words and through our actions. Mostly we never allow our hearts to speak because we don’t allow the conscientious God to enter the stillness of our hearts and correct us.
Down through the ages, our ancestors have always said that all the beings in this world are related. In order to experience and prove this we must lighten our hearts with compassion. We must be able to look upon the difficulties and sorrows of people with the light of compassion. If there is an earthquake or poverty somewhere in the world then we should speak to the souls of the people there and be aware of their sufferings.
Why do we so often get angry? It is, of course, because of selfishness. We get angry when people who have the same likes and dislikes as ourselves are trying to get something that we want. Sometimes this even makes us furious. This is a quality of people using only five senses. When a few people run away from an animal out of fear, others will tend to follow them, believing that this is the highest state of thinking. But it only shows their ignorance. The illusion that is anger is riding an imaginary horse. It will definitely not reach its destination and it will be a troublesome journey. Search for the truth. Find the path that will benefit you by using the magnifying glass called the sixth sense. This magnifying glass will show you the germs of jealousy and anger.
We are always researching into the things around us, like the trees and bushes, the animals and whatever else we see outside of us. But all we are actually doing is simply calculating how many years it has taken for all of this to come into existence and giving ourselves some answers. Afterwards, we are caught by the illusive praises we receive and so we regress. First we need to realize ourselves and the greatness of our birth, we need to find out what we are trying to achieve through this rare opportunity. Uplift this great birth; if we don’t try to do this we will just be like corpses, even though they say that Lord Shiva lives within us, within our bodies.
Even now, avatars and spiritual masters are being born in this world. We should realize that they have come to earth because of the merits acquired by the austerities they performed in their previous births. Those who cannot recognize such people are called ajnanis [people who lack wisdom]. They may have external vision yet they lack internal vision; they cannot understand the greatness and highest qualities of living beings.
Today, with the help of lifeless instruments, science is discovering how to use airwaves in order to find out what is happening far away. But our saints had the capacity to do this within themselves; they were able to find out anything happening anywhere. Modern science is just now discovering things these saints discovered and explained so very long ago. These saints said that people could not live on Mars and it is only now, thousands of years later and after a great amount of research, that scientists have concluded there is no water on Mars and it is therefore uninhabitable. Yet our saints told us this thousands of years ago, without any research. This shows that, through their wisdom, our saints could explain things that science was not even able to approach in those days.
This material life gives an illusive feeling that everything in this world is permanent. Because of this people live their lives without attaining real knowledge and then simply die. But nothing is permanent; all things and all beings are impermanent. The source and life force of all creation, Lord Shiva, is the highest and is eternal – this is a divine thought. Through experiences we learn the consequences of our choices. Permanent happiness is the greatest happiness, and only through the enlightenment of your soul can you enjoy this bliss.
The principle of the Hindu Santana Dharma is to create unity in the world. It states that human beings should search for the truth within themselves. Thousands of religions have come and gone in this world but Hinduism is the only one that appeared in the early beginning of the world and still exists today. All creatures created in this world must once return to God – this is the philosophy of the Hindu Sanatana Dharma. (…)
If you could clearly see which people have managed to achieve truly great things in this world, you would find that they all had faith in the Divine and had the high awareness that their inventions and victories were not due to their own talents but were all actions of God. The average person who does not believe in the Divine regresses in life but those who believe in God will attain a higher state. The mind free of doubts will definitely realize God but whoever has doubts will be of no use, even for the material life. A pure mind is a temple of God and complete trust is the light of the temple.
A person who worships God will truly not discriminate between higher and lower classes. People with prejudice often only pretend to the outside world that they don’t think like this. If you realize that all beings are the reflection of the same life force, then you will no longer have any feelings of discrimination. The cause of discrimination is ignorance and people who think and act in this way are simply doing so due to a lack of knowledge and experience. This disease of discrimination is present even amongst those on the spiritual path, such as “you are important” or “I am important”.
We feel sad when we experience troubles and difficulties and when good things happen to us we feel contented and happy. But once we understand the truth that both sorrow and happiness arise from the same place, then we will always be happy. Saints are constantly in that state. Those who can cure their own physical diseases are the great doctors. And those who have conquered the diseases that control the body – such as hunger, sex, sight and smell – are the great saints and sages. The bliss they taste in that state has no comparison in this world. This is the highest state and whoever attains that level knows the value of a human birth. (…)
When we have the chance to be in contact with spiritual masters, we should not give up this great opportunity by ignoring it. Make that relationship a strong one. Those great people have naturally acquired knowledge you could only learn by reading thousands of books. With just a single glance they can understand all the truths and untruths of a person’s entire being. If they give us some work, we should consider it a gift. The things you are struggling to understand, they already know. They can turn sand into gold and, out of sand, they can make a rope. They can bring us to maturity.
