Take the opportunity of meeting sannyasis (Swamis, monks). Take the opportunity of meeting holy people. Take the opportunity to do your sadhana (spiritual practise). He – the teacher – comes to build those who ready. And for those who are not ready, he blesses them with speedy recovery (from ignorance).
What is it like to be like that one? He cannot think of any lower, relative, good. The good that he wishes, (Swamiji begins to chant: ‘Sarvesham Mangalam bhavatu (may there be good to all), sarvesham svasthir bhavatu (may there be auspiciousness to all), sarvesham shantir bhavatu (may there be peace to all), sarvesham purnam bhavatu (may there be fullness to all), sarvesham mangalam bhavatu (may there be good to all). That’s all. He does not know any other thing. He drops off the second verse. Where it says may all the bad people become good. He drops it off. He just wishes only one thing. May there be, always, auspiciousness. May there be always, peace. May there be only good.
Just like I said yesterday, if the sun is ignorant of anything, it is ignorant of darkness. The sun does not know what darkness is. That blessed guru knows nothing else, but the sunshine of bliss and blessing. Once, one of the swamis, a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna, Shivananada Mahapurushji (picture on left) was asked for blessing. He smiled, ‘What else have we got, the sannyasins, in our bag, but blessings? We have nothing else but blessings.’ Must you ask the obvious? If you go to the sun, would you say to the sun, ‘Give me light, give me warmth’? But the man from inside thinks, ‘I must ask, I must motivate him.’ The man is missing the point. As if you can influence God. You say to God, what a pretty nose you’ve got. What lotus-like eyes you’ve got. The most beautiful blue is Lord Krishna. This will influence him? Never. He can never be influenced. Because he is influence-less. Motiveless.
Similarly, his manifestation in the form of the guru. Only one thing he’s got in there. Blessing. You don’t have to be afraid of him. If you have made any mistakes, nothing to be afraid of. Because he’s got bags full of forgiveness. If you have done something good, you have nothing to be proud of, because he is the one that gives you that good. He’s got bags full of good. Think about that life. Think. I want you to think what a beautiful life that is. You cannot influence it.
Then why these prayers, service, and other things? My beloved Lord the guru Jesus answers, ‘What you think, you become.’ You want to become like him. Like who? The guru, himself. Then you, relating to somebody else, bring in good thought in your mind. If I cannot say that I am good, let me at least say the rose is good. And by saying the rose is good, rose is good, automatically I’ll start thinking good. And who’s uplifted? The rose, or me? It’s me.
A staff in hand, a kamandalu (water pot) in the other hand, with the ashes of fire, the fire of tapasya (austerity) he treads the whole of earth, as if it were its home. He knows, ‘I’m not only of this world but I am for all the worlds, and plus.’ And? Plus… That, with which he has identified himself, is omniscient (all knowing), omnipresent (present everywhere, and omnipotent (all powerful. So, this is the purest life. This is? The purest life.
A guru is not a fortune teller. He’s got no future to tell. (Swamiji chuckles) – there’s no future for him to tell. He’s only living in the present. He’s not a fortune teller. If you go to a heart specialist, would you ask him about lungs? You’ll ask him about the heart. If you go to that guru Brahman (the one, indivisible supreme consciousness), a guru that adores Brahman or who has realised Brahman, you must ask him, with humility, about Brahman, about God. To ask him about anything else is a waste of very valuable time. It’s a waste of? Very, very valuable? Time. And even if you ask something else, it must, ultimately, direct your mind how to reach Brahman itself. You may not ask a direct question about Brahman. You may ask an indirect question. Like, ‘What is the duty of a householder?’ Or ‘What is the duty of a brahmachari (celibate student)?’ And slowly, this rightful duty will gear you to get what is a motiveless state, called mukti (liberation from the cycle of birth and rebirth).
Can you imagine what kind of life this is? Sri Ramakrishna, out of his own experience says, ‘I have met the greatest yogi.’ Mahayogi (great yogi) he called him. ‘Jesus. I have met him. I had his vision. I saw him. He was absorbed in me. He came, I saw him, I did not know who he was. He got absorbed in my body.’ Mahayogi he said. And Mahayogi and Maha Vishnu are not two separate things. Yogeshwar means Lord of the Yogish. Did he have any cursing in his packet (bag)? (Swamiji laughing) They nailed him to the cross, yet he had no curses. No wrath. He still intervened and asked for blessing. ‘Father, Father, forgive them.’ Why forgive them? Because they are ignorant.
How can he hit an ignorant child? Is it the child’s fault or the father’s weakness? Unknowingly they’re doing it. Even if somebody set them up, they are afraid of something. Therefore, they’re doing it. They think that something is the highest. So, forgive them Father. The idea is what? Father must come and say, ‘Child, you are forgiven’? No, don’t let the natural, raw karma take effect on them. If I put my hand in the fire, it must? Burn. Father, Father, forgive him. Father, stop the fire from burning him. The natural law of karma must be stopped. What must be left? Swamiji chuckles. The merit of seeing me (a holy person). The merit of associating. That’s all. Let’s leave them with that, my Lord.
To see a holy person, you don’t know what merit it is. You’re seeing a mobile temple. You’re seeing a mobile thirastan – holy place. That thirastan that is in India, Vrindavan (birthplace of Sri Krishna, Kasi (Varanasi or Benares) and all these places, you have to spend (money) work, sweat, which is easy to get. And to appreciate that is very easy, too. If you do not appreciate the holy place, you may appreciate the scenery. When Sri Ramakrishna saw a lot of people come – worldly people – he said, ‘How to keep the mind good?’ so he’d say, ‘Go and see the flower garden. See how nice the flower garden is?’ At least for the time being, the mind is beautified. Which inside is full of darkness. Anyhow you can do good to people, you must? Do it!
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