Weekly Knowledge #13 - A Liar Is Innocent

Weekly Knowledge #13
Bangalore Ashram
06 Sep 1995

A LIAR IS INNOCENT

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A dear person whom you trust lies to you and gets caught. What do you feel?

1. Sadness
2. Anger
3. Cheated
4. Disappointment
5. Compassion
6. Let down
7. Loss of respect
8. Wonder
9. Shock
10. Embarrassment

Recently when someone lied to me, I felt happy and more love, for they were not a good liar. Had they been a good liar, they would not have been caught. I thought they were so innocent that they could not even lie properly. They lie and get caught. If they had not been caught, how would you know they were a liar? So . . . you can never know a good liar. The person you call a liar is not a good liar and they are innocent. Aren't they?

And so . . . ha ha (laugh). You need not go through all the listed mental gymnastics. Instead melt and dissolve in Love.

Jai Guru Dev!

#12 - LOVE OF THE IGNORANT AND THE ANGER OF THE ENLIGHTENED

Weekly Knowledge #12
Bangalore Ashram
31 Aug 1995

THE LOVE OF THE IGNORANT AND THE ANGER OF THE ENLIGHTENED.

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The love of the ignorant can be harmful yet even the anger of the Enlightened is not harmful. It can be only good!

An example is the school at the Art of Living Ashram in Bangalore. 250 children are enrolled but only 200 come to class on any given day. Fifty children don't show up. Why? They cry at home, "Mother, I don't want to go to school."

The mother says, "Oh, la la, don't cry . . . ok." She thinks, "No child in the world is like my child." And so she sticks up for the child and begins to speak for him. She does not see the teacher's point of view. The mother asks the teacher, "Why are you not teaching my child properly? He is so innocent, so lovely." So, what happens -- the child grows up spoiled. The love in the mother's ignorance has spoiled the child. The child will never learn the alphabet, never learn to read or write, but the mother says, "Oh, never mind, there are sheep to look after and fields to tend." The mother's love in ignorance has spoiled the child.

The anger of the Enlightened is a blessing. There are many instances of this in the Puranas. Once a Master was traveling in the middle province of India with a disciple following him a few yards behind. Some boys who were rude, rough, and abusive began to throw stones and tease the disciple calling him names. This went on for some time as the boys followed the Master and the disciple. They came to a river. The Master and the disciple got into a boat in order to cross. The boys got in another boat which started to sink in the middle of the river.

The Master slapped the disciple across the face. The disciple was so surprised as he had not said a word back to the boys in response to their taunts. He had been such a good disciple and yet the Master had slapped him!

The Master said, "It is your fault. You are responsible for their boat sinking. You did not respond to their abuse. Nature has now punished them in a worse way because you did not have enough compassion to quell their insults."

The slap that the Master gave took away the karma of this event such that it would not be carried into the future of the boys. It also served to take away any little bit of joy the disciple may have felt at seeing the boys' boat sink! Thus, it also took away the karma of the event for the disciple. So, the anger of the Enlightened is a blessing!

Jai Guru Dev.

Diwali!

Rishikesh
30 Oct 1997
India

DIWALI

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Time and space are infinite. Grains of sand are countless. Atoms in the universe are innumerable. So also the stars, the galaxies. The same is with the life on this planet. Neither is there a beginning nor is there an end, because it is all spherical. A sphere has neither a beginning nor an end, nor a goal, nor a direction. Truth has no direction, no goal. Truth itself is the goal and truth is infinite.

Feeling or experiencing the infinity within this finite body, living the timelessness within the time span of life, uncovering the bliss within the misery. This is what you are here for.

Today is Diwali - the Festival of Lights. The streets and buildings are lit up with colorful lights. The four aspects of Diwali:

1. The lights: Symbolic of spreading the Knowledge.

2. Fire crackers: When the explosion happens outside, the explosion inside is diffused.

3. Gift exchange and distribution of sweets: Sweets dispel the bitterness and renew the friendship.

4. Feeling abundance: Brings awareness and gratefulness for what one has.

When true wisdom dawns, it gives rise to celebration, and in celebration you may lose focus or awareness. The ancient rishis knew this so to maintain awareness in the midst of gaiety of celebration, they brought sacredness and puja to every celebration.

Celebrate the Knowledge and feel the abundance, for "those who have will be given more"!

Jai Guru Dev.

Weekly Knowledge #11 - Anasuya.

Weekly Knowledge #11
London
24 Aug 1995
United Kingdom

ANASUYA

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Knowledge will be different at different levels of consciousness. At a particular level of consciousness you will become anasuya. Anasuya is devoid of fault-finding eyes. If a mirror is dusty, you need a duster to clean it. But if your eyes have a cataract, any amount of dusting will not help. So first you have to remove the cataract. Then you can see that the mirror is already clean.

There is a certain mind set that always finds fault, even in the best conditions in the world. When you give a person with this mind set the best, they still find faults. Even with the best possible companion, or the most beautiful painting, they will still find something wrong. That kind of mind set cannot know the sacred Knowledge. Krishna tells Arjuna that he is giving him the Royal Secret, because he is anasuya. "You are not finding fault in Me, even though you are so close."

From a distance, even craters cannot be seen. Even on a smooth surface there will be holes. If you are only interested in the holes, you will not see the magnanimity of things. If you are not in anasuya, Knowledge cannot blossom in you. Then there is no point in giving Knowledge.

Question: What about discrimination -- Wisdom?
Answer: If it is in your vision, your vision will find discrimination. The moment you are out of the path, everything is all wrong, that is not anasuya. For example, you have a friendship, and after 10 years you decide to leave. When you leave, you do not see the good in that relationship. You find fault. This is not anasuya.

However, once you discover you have the wrong vision, half of the wrong vision has already disappeared. There is a fine line here. There cannot be any better example than the cataract. Instead of saying, "My vision is blurred," you say, "The whole world is not sharp." Suppose someone is coming in. It is windy, so you shut the door. But the person thinks the door has been slammed in his face! This is asuya. It is not anasuya. Most of the population is like this.

Asuya is finding fault. It is seeing malicious intent everywhere. It is like a child who says, "Mother, you don't love me!" The child's vision is wrong. If the mother does not love the child, who will? It is the same as if someone comes and says, "Guruji, you don't love me!" If I don't love them, forget about it. Nobody else in the world will! Where else will they find love? Nowhere. A mother may get frustrated but not a Master.

Question: It seems as though you can't have anasuya unless you are enlightened?
Answer: Not always. This is an excuse. To get enlightenment, you must have this vision.

Jai Guru Dev.