Question from a devotee from the UK: “Swamiji, the external world is not the real world. What can help us look inward to find the real world?”
Your question is: living in this world, we are all attached to and involved in many external desires, money, relationships, and so on. If there is a spiritual world besides this worldly one, then where is it, how can we find it and is it possible to reach it?
Human beings cleverly look at worlds in various ways. When humans decided to go to the moon they thought, Why not establish a new world on the moon? They went there, looked around and saw that there is no atmosphere, no this and no that…so they had spent a huge amount of money and came back. Who is it that gave human beings the idea of reaching the moon – scientists or others? Those who initially indicated this path to the scientists were the sages. In ancient days the saints and sages explained exactly how many yugas there are, how many planets there are around us and what all is on them. They even mentioned that around the year 2000 a comet would come so close to the earth it would be as if were kissing the earth. They said it would come so close that it would either collide with the earth or pass right by it. How many more years until the year 2000? Only six. So within six years a comet will pass by the earth. This was foretold by saints and sages. (…) But no one took note of it, because if anyone talks about something that’s going to happen 100 or more years from now, no one will care about it. But if scientists now say it is true that this going to happen, then you will believe it.
So now this comet is coming – have you heard about it? It’s coming and, if it collides with the earth, this world will inevitably be destroyed. So are they going to collide? To protect us from something like this, God sends saints and sages into this world. If there are great saints with divine grace in this world then, with the help of their powers, such calamities can be avoided. When a natural destruction like this is about take place, God naturally also sends great saints and sages with divine powers to this world so that they can show the power of the Divine to the world and give grace to humanity.
I am telling you this because people living in this world should know that there is also another world inside of them. (…) In this world of maya there is another world, an inner world. We are allowing all our thoughts to be scattered outside of us. We have not learned to control our thoughts and direct them inward. We let them run away. The mind runs… and we run along with it! Our thoughts keep running away from us towards worldly desires and comforts, attachments, name and fame, money, position, prestige, jealousy and ego… and, while we run after all these things, time is also running. We are getting older and, if we keep on running like this, we will eventually run into the earth!
So, before you become one with the earth, shouldn’t you try to see this world that is within you? How are you going to see it? If we open our eyes we can see the external world. If we close our eyes we see darkness and, within that darkness, we can see a light. If we close our mouth there is no sound at all. But if we control our minds, all our thoughts will stay inside of us. Therefore, you have to control the mind and stop your thoughts from running.
And you should do this with a good intention. You are all good people. In some areas you may be bad… you have some good qualities and also some bad ones. But I only look at the good. I don’t look at your faults; I’m not interested in them. I only look at the good in you – your good qualities, your good nature and your good thoughts. Sometimes, without knowing, you may do something wrong or adhere to some wrong beliefs, but I don’t look into all that. Each one of you should have the self-confidence to say, I possess these good qualities. Many people tell me, I’m not a good person. Don’t say that. You are good people! You may have a few bad habits but these can be changed. (…) It is not very difficult to understand the inner world; it is very easy, but first you must understand yourself and gain confidence and trust in yourself. If you don’t trust yourself, if you don’t believe in yourself, how are you going to understand the world inside you?
Hari Om!
Watch Swamiji giving the above satsang here!
