Beauty
Preface
We all long for a beautiful life, because deep down, we all know that it isn't beautiful the way
it is. But what is beauty? When can we actually say we are living a beautiful life? What are the
correct definitions of beauty and ugliness? Is beauty really skin deep?
These are all significant question that helps us understand and have the right perceptions of
beauty, in ourselves as well as the others. When we understand what is beautiful in the real
sense and what isn't, it becomes easy for us to pick all that is beautiful and leave the rest.
This eBook is a collection of some very deep wisdom about beauty, shared by our Celestial
Friend, Shreee. Each talk is a pearl that changes your complete outlook towards the way you
have been looking at life.
Please note, this eBook is a compilation of spontaneous live talks delivered by Shreee to his
disciples. These talks are meant for the modern man with examples from the real world.
YouTube links are available for these talks.
Visit School of Life at www.schooloflife.co.in
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Contents
Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 2
Physical beauty and Inner Beauty ........................................................................................................... 4
Beautiful Mind ...................................................................................................................................... 11
Feel More .............................................................................................................................................. 17
Beauty beyond Head & Heart ............................................................................................................... 22
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Physical beauty and Inner Beauty
Godly Morning!
Friends, I am very happy because we all are here together once again. Such a beautiful
gathering is very rare. It is really wonderful to laugh, sing, & celebrate along with such
beautiful people. When I called you all beautiful, I meant it. But it is important to know why I
called you beautiful.
I have often been asked questions that start with “you said so and so”. Whereas actually, the
questions should start with, “this is what I understood from what you said…” There is a
difference between the two statements. When someone tells me, “you said so and so”; it
often surprises me and I wonder how can I say a thing like that?!! That is when I realize that
the person asking the question understood it that way. That is why I asked, what did you
understand when I called you beautiful? I could see the happiness on your faces when I called
you beautiful; but what does beauty mean to you?
Obviously, when we call someone beautiful, we refer to their appearance, their facial
features, their complexion, the shape of their body, etc. Whenever someone is referred to as
beautiful, our first instinct is to look at their body and appearance; their physical beauty. For
us, beauty is all about the physical appearance. Generally, it is the appearance that decides
whether we are beautiful or ugly – there are conventions laid down by the society that define
beauty and ugliness. Everyone wants to look beautiful. Everyone wants physical beauty,
intensely. People long for it.
I am sure you all have heard about inner beauty. I am sure you have heard that physical beauty
is just skin deep. This is a fact. Will you be able to have a crush on someone if the first layer
of their skin is removed? That proves the point that physical beauty is actually skin deep.
Beauty has a very deep meaning. Inner goes way deeper than the body. As far as the outer
beauty is concerned, we don’t have much of a choice in the way we look. Our physical
appearance and structure have come from our parents. You can either thank them or be upset
with them. But the fact is that the body has come from the parents. The first thing to
understand is that there is no need to be upset about the so-called ugliness of the body. There
is also no need to be proud of its so-called beauty – because you have not contributed to its
ugliness or its beauty in any way. Your body has been given to you by your parents. However,
we are responsible for our inner beauty. Inner beauty doesn’t come from parents. Inner
beauty is about the level of awareness, the level of consciousness. We have been working on
cultivating the level of awareness since many births – and this is something that we do on our
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own. This doesn’t come from parents. We need to create inner beauty on our own. It is
possible for us to develop a beautiful heart that lives in forgiveness, sharing, beauty, prayer,
peace, bliss, love, compassion, maturity, and celebration. An inner self with these feelings is
truly beautiful. On the other hand, it is also possible for us to have a mind full of anger,
frustration, jealousy, violence, tension, misery, etc. This kind of an inner self can be termed
as ugly.
My point is – the state of your inner self matters the most. What matters is who you are
beyond the body. What matters is the state of your inner self. Is your inner self beautiful or
ugly? Whether the appearance of your body is beautiful or ugly, is not very important.
Whether you are beautiful or ugly inside is more important. Have you not experienced that
when you come close to a very beautiful person, you see the ugliness that lies within them?
When their inner ugliness surfaces, you want to break all ties with them without caring about
their beautiful appearance, right? Because the beauty that you fell for was just skin deep.
There was no inner beauty in the other person. But we only consider outer beauty as the real
beauty. When we work on becoming more beautiful, we only work on the way we look. We
make many efforts to make our body look beautiful. We make efforts so that we continue to
look beautiful on the outside. What is the effort we make towards cultivating inner beauty?
Some of you may feel that you do not work much in the direction of outer beauty. But even
those who think they don’t care about the outer beauty much, in fact, do work a lot towards
it. Just compare the effort you make towards inner and outer beauty, and you would realize
that everyone is only concerned about the outer beauty. This holds true for people who think
they don’t make much effort towards outer beauty. The fact is that it appears that they’re not
making much effort because it has simply become a habit. Can you remember even one day
of your life when you did not look at yourself in the mirror? And can you remember even one
day of your life when you sincerely worked on your inner beauty? I am not saying that you
have not worked on inner beauty at all. You’ve grown; you’ve become wiser than before. But
just compare the effort spent on the two sides of beauty.
Since we’ve always considered outer beauty very important, we work on it perpetually – and
it doesn’t even look like much of an effort. It has become our lifestyle; it has become such a
rigid pattern that we don’t even realize the amount of effort that goes in to make ourselves
look good. Who doesn’t brush their hair, who doesn’t look at themselves in the mirror before
leaving the house? Who doesn’t want to look less horrific before stepping out? This goes to
prove how important physical beauty is for us. Think, and tell me if I am wrong? If I were to
go into details, it would take a long time. Women might end up thinking that I am talking
about them. Men also conveniently pass the buck towards women. One day, Puchka Preetam
was trying to squat flies from a room. He declared that most of the flies were female. His wife,
Chatto Chatori asked him how he could figure out the gender of the flies. He said, “They were
all found sitting on the mirror.” Men try to corner themselves when it comes to working
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towards outer beauty. They make it look like it’s only women who think about their
appearance. Ok, given the benefit of doubt, they work towards outer beauty relatively lesser
than women. But they definitely do. And the effort spent by men is continually increasing.
Men have started pulling hair out of their skin too. Earlier they only got rid of facial hair, and
now things are changing. If I were to make you aware of each body part starting from your
head to toe, you will be able to make a list of things you do in order to look good. From
coloring your hair to hair spa, straightening and curling, to spending 15 minutes to decide
what to wear, and matching the top and the bottom with the watch – in the case of women
there is an array of things that should match right. My God! So much effort! And how much
effort is being done towards inner beauty? You will not be able to handle if someone were to
see your out-of-bed look – with saliva running don your mouth, messy hair, and your face
looking like a rotten mango. Perhaps that is why people don’t appreciate surprise visits these
days. With surprise visits, there is no chance to make yourself look presentable. So, it disturbs
us when someone sees us in a non-presentable state. But we are unaffected when people see
us being violent, or full of hatred and frustration. It doesn’t affect us when people see inner
ugliness in us; because the concept of inner beauty doesn’t exist for most of us. Why stress
over something that isn’t such a big deal? I remind you again of how much effort every single
one of us puts into maintaining our physical appearance and health. What about inner
health? Guys go to the gym and lift double the weight than their own body. They walk with
their arms pulled back in order to make their chest look bigger. Why all this fuss? God didn’t
plan for guys to have big chests; else he would have made them like that. It isn’t natural! Look
at the kind of determinations people have. They look at a Tikki being made with wishful eyes,
but will not eat it – because their determination is so strong. But there is no determination to
enhance inner beauty. It doesn’t even occur to people that they should have the commitment
to get rid of anger and become more forgiving. Inner beauty holds no importance; it is not a
priority. It is easier for people to say, “This is the way I am” when the question is about inner
beauty. People conveniently say things like, “I am short-tempered. I am unforgiving, etc.” But
when the question is about physical beauty, you will not hear anyone say, “That is the way I
am.” People even go to the extent of getting surgeries done to fix their noses and what not!
They do all the circus in the world in order to look good; and completely ignore the fact that
God needs to be found within.
It’s a simple thing – outer beauty is not deep. Your life is not governed by how beautiful you
are on the outside. Your life is actually governed by how beautiful you are on the inside. Inner
beauty determines how happy or miserable you will be. Do you think someone who looks
extremely beautiful also leads a very happy life? Have you not heard of attractive people
ending their lives? I am talking about film stars, etc. who you find extremely attractive. There
are so many of them who died of drug overdose. Why are all these incidents associated with
beautiful people? If they were happy and peaceful within, such incidents would not have
happened to them.
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Physical beauty does not play a role in making one happy or miserable. Even if someone is
ugly as per social conventions, it is possible for them to have a blissful life. One the other
hand, conventionally beautiful people can be miserable too; in fact, this is the case with most
people who are attractive. That is because people who are beautiful are usually more
attached to their bodies. With some exceptions, most people who know their appearance is
attractive do not even feel the need to work on their inner beauty. Therefore, there is a huge
possibility that physically attractive people will be ugly inside. It is a rare combination when
someone is beautiful from within and outside. Generally, people get so attached to their outer
appearance that they completely ignore the inner beauty. Therefore, there lies a lot of
ugliness inside. A lot of times, when people call it love at first sight and fall into the trap of a
relationship, they encounter the ugliness that lies within the other person. They realize that
the other person is very beautiful on the outside, but ugly on the inside. There are a lot of
such cases. Some of you may know it from your own firsthand experience. Spending time in
the company of such people is as good as spending time in hell. Outer beauty is generally
superficial; there is no depth at all. If people work on inner beauty, life becomes beautiful in
the real sense. When people work on inner beauty, their lives become peaceful, blissful,
happy, and full of love. We are very attached to the body and hence, we give it a lot of
importance. We end up neglecting inner beauty. I am not against physical beauty at all. I love
beauty. I simply suggest you to be completely beautiful; wholly beautiful. I suggest you to be
beautiful at the outer level, as well as the inner level. If beauty exists at both inner and outer
level, then it is real – then it is worth. And I must also tell you here that if you need to make a
choice, choose inner beauty – because outer appearance does not matter a lot.
Let me ask you a hypothetical question. If you were given a hundred rupees and you were
told you could buy inner or outer beauty with the money, what kind of beauty will you buy?
It depends on you whether you would like to buy only inner beauty, or only outer beauty, or
a little inner and a little outer beauty. What would you choose? What percentage of money
will you spend on inner beauty and what percent on outer beauty? You don’t have to answer
that. But do think about it; because this percentage that you think of tells you how beautiful
you are in the real sense. Did any one of you have the courage to allocate all the money
towards inner beauty? The day you find the courage, is the day you become beautiful in the
real sense.
As per Indian history, Ashtavakra was an enlightened person. But if you judge him on the
parameters of conventional beauty, he would score a zero. Eight of his body parts were
abnormal. He was truly ugly in terms of outer beauty. You may have heard of this incident
when King Janaka had invited wise people from all over his kingdom. These wise men were
sitting in the court of the king when Ashtavakra walked in to the court for some reason. All
wise men present in the court started laughing hysterically when they saw Ashtavakra walk
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with great difficulty. Ashtavakra stopped walking and laughed louder. There was pin drop
silence in the court. The king asked Ashtavara, “Son, why are you laughing?”Ashtavakra
responded, “I am laughing at all these shoemakers who are sitting in your court today.”
The king was taken aback by the response. The king told him that all these people were wise
men from all over the kingdom.
Ashtavakra said, “What kind of wise men are these when they can’t see anything beyond than
outer flesh (leather)? They are only able to see the building that is not in shape. But does the
shape of the building also affect the shape of the sky inside the building? I laughed because
these so-called wise men failed to see the Param Nirakaar (the Ultimate Formless God) that
resides inside by unshapely body. What does it matter if the temple is in ruins? It is the
beautiful deity inside the temple that matters. All these wise men in the court are stuck on
the outer beauty only – they have not yet found the beautiful God within themselves.”
Who can be more beautiful than a person who has found the ultimate God within, the
ultimate bliss within? This incident at the King’s court came as a blessing for Ashtavakra who
had an extremely ugly body. He lost all attachment he had with his body. With very ugly
people, there is a huge possibility that they will lose attachment with their bodies. So they
realize they are separate from their bodies, and they are able to watch their bodies. And when
they realize they’re separate from the body, they understand that they cannot be judged basis
their appearance. That is exactly what happened in Astavakra’s case. The so-called curse of
an ugly body became a blessing in disguise. He could experience the beautiful self within. Do
you think Astavakra would trade his inner beauty for some outer beauty? What do we need
in life? We need happiness, peace, bliss, and relaxation. All this has nothing to do with outer
beauty. All this depends on how beautiful you are at an internal level. Someone as ugly as
Ashtavakra can also be blissful within. On the other hand, extremely beautiful people can be
miserable inside; in fact in most cases, they are miserable inside. They’re extremely insecure.
Open your eyes and see what are we doing to attain inner beauty? We have almost dedicated
our lives towards outer beauty.
This about it – the body will definitely deteriorate with age. You can get as many surgeries
you want, get the colour of your skin changed – but the nature of the body is Marandharma;
it is bound to deteriorate. The body will become uglier with time. The entire effort to hide the
ugliness of the body makes us look uglier. If someone tries too hard to look beautiful, their
effort makes them look ugly, right? People find it hard to accept the fact that they’re not
young any longer. You only start realizing that your body is aging when young ones start
addressing you as uncle/aunty. When the young ones start addressing us as uncle/aunty; you
discourage them from doing so. When you were younger, you addressed other people your
age as uncle/aunty, right? When would you become comfortable with someone calling you
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uncle/aunty; when you’re 95? It is very difficult to accept. The reason it is difficult to accept
is because the mind doesn’t age. That’s why there are so many terms like – naughty at forty,
etc.!
It is with great difficulty that people are able to accept that they’re old; the pulp of the mango
is gone and only the seed is left. You will see a lot of 60 year olds who try very hard to look
sixteen and a half. They’re too attached to the body. They identify themselves as the body.
So they think that the ugliness of the body is making them ugly; the frailty of the body is
making them frail. They think the death of the body will be their end too. Therefore, misery
is inevitable for such a person. The more you’re attached to the beauty of the body, the more
miserable you will be. You will continue to see younger, more beautiful, and healthier people
and that will make you miserable. You will find it difficult to talk to younger people because
it will continuously remind you that you’re not young anymore, you’re not as healthy as you
used to be, etc. The desire for respect and attention remains unchanged. The desire is to be
like the football, being chased by several people at the same time. Whereas the fact is you’ve
become a golf ball with only one person making efforts to throw you away from himself. That
brings frustration.
Gar haath mein jumbish nahi, aankhon mein toh dam hai…
Rehne de abhi saagar-e-meena mere aage…
(Even though I have no energy to pick up the drink, I can, at least admire it through my eyes.
Let the goblet remain here…)
This is how life becomes. Imagine the level of frustration because the desires are exactly the
same, but the body is unable to support those desires. Misery is inevitable for people who are
too attached to the body. And it is not like they will feel miserable towards the end of life.
They continue to be miserable even now; because the body is aging with each passing day. It
is not possible for the body to be Nirogi, disease-free. No matter how healthy you try to be,
some disease or the other affects the body. No matter how beautiful you are, you will be able
to spot something that is not right. Nobody is perfect. So, this so-called physical beauty is
never going to satisfy you. Satisfaction comes from inner beauty. Satisfaction and
contentment belong to inner beauty; contentment is the quality of inner beauty. And we have
not worked on inner beauty. If you are beautiful within, it may reflect on the body too – it is
not a rule, but it may so happen. But there is a strange attraction, a magnetic field of sorts, in
people who are beautiful within. Other people like the company of the people who are
beautiful inside. King Janaka left his court the next day in order to find where Ashtavakra lived.
He bowed down in front of Ashtavakra and became his disciple. He asked him to share the
secret of attaining inner beauty. We must start working on inner beauty. There is nothing
wrong with outer beauty; so you can continue to do what you’ve been doing. The temple
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should be beautiful too. The temple may turn into ruins with time; but we can keep repairing
it till the time we can. There is no harm. Please don’t think I am against outer beauty. It is a
good thing to groom yourself on the outer front. It is an act of non-violence on the others
after all. If you go out and meet people without taking care of your appearance and hygiene,
they might not want to talk to you even. So I am definitely in favour of outer beauty. But I
don’t support the lop-sided grooming. Why only take care of outside beauty? To me, outer
beauty holds very little value as compared to inner beauty. Whether I would like to be friends
with you or not depends on how beautiful your inner self is. If your inner self is beautiful, I
will be your Param mitr, your eternal friend. On the other hand, if you only possess physical
beauty, I may not even look at you. I appreciate beauty. I appreciate the beauty that emanates
from within – and manifests itself on the outside in the form of an aura. That is real beauty.
It is impossible to have beautiful relationships if you’re not beautiful within. Since human
beings are social animals, interdependence is our way of life. All of us live in some relationship
or the other. It is unnatural if someone claims they can live completely alone. It is a fact that
human being is a social animal. So you will have relationships, but your relationships will be
hellish because there is no inner beauty. Outer beauty is a good thing. You feel good when
you look good. Others also feel good when they look at you. But if you think you’re not
beautiful on the outside, it is not such a big problem. But there is no need to give a lot of
weightage to physical beauty. Just try to look good from your end. The temple of the deity
should be clean and beautiful, right? Pamper yourself and pamper your body, there is no
problem with that. But it is important to work on your inner beauty too. Spend a portion of
your energy in making the inner self beautiful too. Start with at least 2 percent of your energy.
It’s not a lot to ask.
This is a spiritual beauty parlour. I am helping you work towards inner beauty. Here, your
mind starts to dissolve; the mind that brings misery starts to dissolve. You become more
loving, celebrative, and light-hearted. Your life becomes beautiful, and a fragrance arises.
Remember, inner beauty is the most important. Work on it too. It is important; in fact the
most important.
Click here to watch this recorded talk on YouTube.
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Beautiful Mind
Godly Morning again!
Whenever we talk about beauty, we refer to physical appearance or physical beauty only. ‘I
am beautiful’, ‘you are beautiful’ or ‘he/she is ugly’, when we say these, we only refer to
physical beauty. No one talks about inner beauty. You must have heard on several occasions
that outer beauty is just skin deep and one must possess inner beauty. But still, almost
negligible amount of work is done on inner beauty. Mostly, we work only for physical beauty
and health; even though our happiness in life is not dependent on physical beauty and
appearance. That is because happiness and misery are both related to our inner beauty. And
if we want to know more about inner beauty, then in the first instance we will be reminded
of beauty of mind and thoughts, and then emotions and heart, and lastly, the soul.
So first, let us talk about mind, a beautiful mind. What do you think is a beautiful mind?
Contemplate and think about what kind of a mind can be called beautiful? Do you feel that a
happy, peaceful, relaxed mind is beautiful? Or on the contrary, think about what can be
considered as an ugly mind? One that lives in anger, irritation, frustration, misery, violence,
jealousy, complaints, hostility, and so on and so forth. So when we talk about a beautiful and
ugly mind, we would, usually, think about the afore-mentioned characteristics. It’s a simple
thing, mind can take you to a tavern or a temple; it can create either sunlight or shadow.
Mann hee le jaata madhushaala, mann hee le jaata mandir hai,
Mann se dhoop, mann se chaaya…
The way mind perceives an event will decide whether that event will make you miserable or
happy. If the same event happens in two people’s lives, they will not react the same way. So
many of you are here today, and you were asked to remove your shoes outside the hall. Is it
not possible for a few pairs to go missing by the time this session is over? Do you think each
person will react to that in the same manner?
“Oh God! Who took my new shoes? I had only bought them a year and a half back.” Some
might think.
Or there could be someone who would think, “Good riddance! It happened for good. Let me
just take a good pair available here.”
Then someone could think, “I was already thinking of buying a new pair”, or “Oh Great! I was
thinking this morning itself, to wear old shoes today, so I don’t mind that they have gone
missing.”
The same event might happen to multiple people, but everyone will perceive it differently.
This very perception depends on the mind and thought. So the mind works differently for
everyone. The mind should be such that it brings happiness, peace, celebration, flowering,
and spreads fragrance in life, and make life beautiful. This is what our thoughts should be like.
But, no one makes much effort towards the transformation of thoughts. All efforts are
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towards grooming the body. The concern is more about matching our sunglasses with clothes,
or the belt with shoes, or the bag with the suit. Whereas, there isn’t any concern about
whether our thoughts match with our beauty or not. We see no problem in being the ugliest
beautiful person. So many ugly beautiful people can be found.
So, how should one start to work on inner beauty? Happiness in life is dependent on whether
you are able to accumulate inner beauty or not. It does not depend on physical beauty. In
fact, on physical beauty, misery is sure to come because with age, the body will acquire
diseases and will naturally deteriorate. A fit body is an important instrument to aid the
development of inner beauty. But the real thing is to work on inner beauty, and it should be
worked upon with great intensity and priority. That is the ‘greater’ beauty and should be
worked upon.
Start with the mind. The first step towards getting rid of any disease is to acknowledge that
the disease exists. So, to start with the mind, the first step is to decide whether the mind is
beautiful or not. And, if not, then what is missing and what can be done about it. This is the
process, correct? So, start paying attention to your inner beauty every day the same way you
do for your physical appearance. It is said, ‘Master is a mirror’ – the one, who acquaints you
with your real and fake images, both. That is why the saying, “meet the saints openly, not in
veils, as the mirror should not be seen with a mask on.” (fakiron se milo khul ke, naqaabon
mein nahi, kyunki aaine bhais badal ke nahi dekhe jaate). That is why the master is said to be
a mirror. But, I observe, that for some people, old habits die hard, and everywhere they
adhere to hypocritical ways. For them, it is a matter of behavior and conduct, of what to say,
show or hide. But the one who has chosen the path of inner beauty and splendor, and who
has started to utilize the mirror called the ‘Guru’, does not hide behind any veil. I see this
courage in my people – they are absolutely transparent, they have nothing to hide. This gives
birth to rebellion inside, because the first and foremost thing is that at least we see our actual
self, without any diplomacy, acknowledge the way we are, good or bad. Start with being a
mirror for yourself, because it is not necessary that you will find a person like that, who can
show you the mirror. So, watch your thoughts, contemplate on them, and know how they
work inside. A very beautiful technique I can remember is that - give a name to your thought.
Substitute it with one word. Just to give you an example, if you are driving your car and you
see another ‘higher model’ luxury car (and you know there is no end to it. You may drive a
very expensive luxury car, yet you will find another one of higher value. This is mind). So,
when you see, you start thinking inside, “This is what I should have. What a dreadful car I am
driving!” This is how the mind works. Now, give this thought a name. Tag it with a name.
Would you not call it Greed?
Jo hai uska karta na maan, jo nahi mila so pareshaan…
(The mind does not let you be grateful for what you have. It keeps nagging about things you
don’t have.)
Zindagi kya hai, jadoo ka khilauna hai.
Mil jaaye to mitti hai, kho jaaye to sona hai…
(Life is a magical toy. What you possess has as little value as dust. When you lose it, its value
is like gold.)
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There is no respect for what we have. More is needed, some more. Give it a name, ‘GREED’.
Just try it. When a woman looks at another woman from head to toe; a fire can be seen in her
canny eyes – fire that can literally burn the other. At that moment, she should just label that
feeling as ‘jealousy’. For boys, label it as ‘lust’. I am only asking you to label your feeling with
one word. You can recognize what is going on inside you. Generally, we pay no attention to
what we are thinking. So now, from here, start a new trend. Think of what you think, and then
think of what you think about that thinking. Just think what you think. For the first time, you
will watch your thoughts and very soon, your presumption of your own greatness will fade
away. We have never focused on this before. We presume ourselves to be healthy, justifying
all the diseases our mind has. “I am right”, this is carved on our mind to such an extent that
we are ready to go to any limit to prove ourselves right. That is why, there are some people
who are always hell bent on proving others wrong, so as to prove themselves right. Or, there
are people who would just prove themselves right. So, whenever you have a debate, a quarrel
or an argument, just simply stop at that moment and ponder upon your thinking, and label it
as ‘I am right’. My suggestion for inner beauty, just to begin with, is that be aware of your
thoughts. Then you will realize what is beautiful and what is ugly. That, which is beautiful, we
will grow further, and will also find a solution to get rid of the ugliness. This is the starting
point.
Next, how would you know whether something is beautiful or ugly? Wisdom is needed for
that. So work on it. Read books by people who talk about wisdom. But do not blindly believe
those books. Contemplate on it. Do not simply assume something to be true because
someone has said it. Because of this very pattern, enough violence has occurred in this world.
If something has been mentioned in a book, anyone can blindly follow, and no questions will
be raised! Everything is questionable. Ask questions, dig deep into it. And, if you agree, then
accept it. No blind faith, do not follow anyone blindly. Follow yourself. Think, contemplate
and understand. But do increase your power and capacity to think. You would be surprised to
know that according to a study by psychologists, the average psychological age of a human is
7 years only. This means that our wisdom and understanding depends on whatever we have
learnt until the age of 7. The wisdom does not grow; it only seems to grow. But, actually, it
grows on that very platform, not in reality. And when you really contemplate on that
understanding, then it grows, for real.
For example, when I say something to you and you follow as it is, then it will not go deep, and
you may not be able to implement it. Implementation will be possible when you listen and
then contemplate for yourself, and see whether you agree with it or not. If you agree, it
becomes your own thinking. You have invested your energy in it. That is why you must have
noticed that people hear good words and discourses everywhere, but they don’t transform.
There are 2 reasons for this. One is that they themselves do not contemplate on those
thoughts so that understanding is borrowed and never their own. There is no depth in this
borrowed understanding. I must mention the other reason also. People do not even think
about transformation or change. The very concept of transformation is missing. Just like I
mentioned that everyone thinks about physical beauty but not about inner beauty, similarly,
there is no thinking on the concept of transformation and growth, this is not their goal. And
because this is not a goal, people read books, attend spiritual seminars and gatherings, but
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they do not transform. Masses attend these lectures or wisdom talks. But they leave as same
people they were because, at the very first place, they never desired transformation. For
them, listening to these talks is religion. Listening to saints convinces them that they are
religious. They bow down; listen to talks on morality and leave. But there is no concept of
implementing it in life. A person can be easily seen hitting his son or fighting with a poor
rickshaw puller for a petty sum of money right after attending a discourse. He doesn’t
remember an ounce of what he learnt from the discourse; nothing at all. Saving money is his
priority, so all his actions and arguments are justified. Thank God he doesn’t stoop to a level
where he pedals the rickshaw himself. The entire concept of transformation is missing. It is
not like you will be able to create grand monuments with the 5 rupees you’re fighting for. Tag
this emotion as being miserly.
Since the very concept of transformation is missing, listening to saints makes absolutely no
difference. We have all witnessed in our families that some people keep attending these
talks/lectures or keep watching such programs on television. And, they would switch-off the
television just for a few moments, for an argument or fight, and then turn it on again. It is
getting a little difficult to convey what I really want to. The point is that the person is not even
thinking about what he/she is doing, because there is no concept of self-transformation, of
change. The very first step is to give birth to this concept. Else, life would be meaningless. This
world, truly, is a school and each and every incident in our life has been conspired in a way so
that we can learn from it. But the very attitude of learning is missing. Every incident,
relationship, every event in our life is a conspiracy of this existence’s automatic software
called ‘Karma’, and it is for us to learn and transform for the better. But, the attitude of
learning is missing because the concept of transformation is missing. Why should one learn
when he does not want to change? I am referring to the learning that transforms life, the
mind and the within, for the better. So first of all, a commitment should rise within, for
change, for beauty, for betterment. To beautify within, start watching your thoughts and read
good books or listen to lectures, discourses, wisdom talks. But do not just blindly follow them.
Think about it. This contemplation will take you to a level where you will start judging,
thinking, and you will uncover what is right on your own. You will know for yourself what
brings happiness, peace, and relaxation in life. This will be like ‘Samundar Manthan’ (churning
of the ocean).
But first, contemplate on your contemplation, think on your thoughts. For this to happen,
encourage the process of thinking. Knowledge is also needed for this, even if it is borrowed.
You need to know what other people think about certain things. Watch that anger brings
misery to life, jealousy brings misery to life. Now, read what people have said about anger,
jealousy, and hostility. Read about what are the advantages of being calm. Read and learn
about what people say about love and forgiveness? Read about people’s experiences, but
trust your own experience. Only listen to what people say, but rely on your own experience.
Experiment and watch. When you watch your thoughts, an attitude to learn develops.
Nobody is perfect so do not get trapped in any kind of guilt. When you watch, you will see
that there are numerous diseases of the mind that bring misery to life. Mind has created a
pattern that it will always find misery in anything and everything. It has become discouraging
and complaining, creepy to an extent. But there is also beauty in it. If you pay attention to the
beauty, it will grow. But first, it is important for you to know that the diseases exist. Then you
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will need to work on those diseases, and you will transform. So gradually, you will get your
answers and wisdom. Wisdom exists but there are no takers for it. There are listeners but no
thinkers; there aren’t people who would like to implement the wisdom in their lives. Hence, I
say, a partial journey will not work.
Ordinarily, a common man’s life has no place for learning and growth. For them, growth
means that of the physical body, which happens naturally on its own, without any effort. For
ordinary people, growing is equivalent to growing old. But here, physical growth is not being
referred to. You can stop this also, provided you get an opportunity. Growth, in this context,
refers to internal growth, maturity (real, not physical), and wisdom. You will age gradually,
but with age, only wrinkles will grow, not wisdom. Without this attitude of learning, of
transformation, it doesn’t matter what your age is.
There is a beautiful saying by a Farsi poet, “buzurgi ba-akal ast na’basaal”. It means that old
age is related to wisdom and not age. This is why there are lots of quotations like “why do old
people prove time and again that wisdom is not related to age?” And another dialogue, “Dear
parents, we don’t learn what you say. We just take you as an example”. So children learn from
what they see you do. Only yesterday I heard this, “From the time television and internet has
entered our lives, no child is a reflection of their parents anymore”. Their horizon is now
expanding. Children can now learn from so many other sources, apart from their parents. So
now, it would not be right to say that children are learning only from their parents, not
anymore. But you are aging for sure. And those days are not far when you will also start saying
that nowadays children have no respect for their parents. Someone should teach them to
respect parents and elders. So there are a lot of lecturers and preachers who preach you to
respect your parents and elders. But I do not say that. Not because I don’t want this to
happen. I ask you to respect everyone. Why respect only parents? Does that mean children
should be insulted? This is not my concept. I say that respect all, love all. Say right to whoever
is right and wrong to whoever is wrong. Even if a 15 year old child is right, say so, or if a 75
year old man is wrong, even then say so. It is not necessary that a 75 year old will always be
right. If that would have been my concept, my life wouldn’t have changed. At a very early age,
I realized that it is not necessary that old people are always right. Their life itself is a proof.
They are full of anger and frustration. A poet has said, ameeri paise se nahi, dil se hai… (This
means you are as rich as your heart is. Money doesn’t play a role in one being rich or poor.)
It is possible for a person to become more cunning with age. And the possibility of this is fairly
high. But does wisdom grow? This depends on whether you have the determination and will
to learn and transform or not. So you have to understand that respect cannot be enforced
upon. That which can be enforced is a ‘circus’, acting, or duty. Have you seen a politician bow
down in front of another one? And the same one then does his best to pull him down. This is
not respect – it’s false, it’s flattery, it is enforced. Respect is to be earned. And if someone is
transforming only to gain respect, then the very first step is wrong. This becomes a game of
the ego. So the person who desires respect is the one who is insulted the most too. Because
his entire day is spent judging whether he is being treated with respect or not. When people
get married in India, the bride’s family asks the groom’s if they want something. You’d
commonly hear the groom’s family saying they do not wish any material wealth, but they just
want to be respected during ceremonies. What is the fuss about? You lack so much respect
that you have to ask for it? Do you feel so insulted in life that all you need is respect, no matter
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what the means? Even the elderly people in our families keep saying that all they need is
respect. I am not against respect. But I say respect everyone. I encourage you to respect the
right and disapprove the wrong, irrespective of who is in question. Speak up for what you
think is wrong and that you do not agree with it. But you do not speak up even if you think
something is wrong. This gives a misconception to the other person. Do not give or take any
misconceptions. Be assertive and talk with respect and love. Do not talk to take revenge or
hurt someone. Also be aware of your anger and ego, but be assertive.
Therefore, it is important that we wake up while there’s still time, and start working on inner
beauty. It is time to judge our own thoughts, label our thoughts. Like, if you have a tensed
relationship, call it ‘expectations’. Then see that expectations bring misery to life and work
towards freedom from expectations. Watch your anger, greed, attachment. There is nothing
permanent, but we want to possess. This makes us miserable. Contemplate on the solution.
The solution already exists. I, too, speak to you all about the path that brings beauty in life.
But that would only remain a discussion, if you do not have the commitment to implement it
and transform yourself. If you are not committed towards your transformation, then you are
not ready to learn, and if you are not ready to learn then this is just going to be a time-pass.
And remember, spirituality is not a time-pass ‘mungfali’ (peanuts). It isn’t something to keep
you busy when you have nothing else to do. Spirituality is not as casual as having popcorn or
peanuts. It is a question of life and death. You cannot take this path for granted. If you are
taking this path for granted, then you are just here for entertainment. You will miss the point.
It is precious because once you transform, your life is transformed into beauty, celebration,
bliss. So the one who recognizes the precious as precious, enjoys the precious and becomes
the precious. And the one, who does not recognize the precious as precious, loses the
precious. We recognize something to be precious when we lose it. Wake up before it is too
late. You people are fortunate to find a path where you can simply make your whole life
beautiful - a beautiful mind, heart, and soul. But first, you need to have this commitment and
will to transform, to grow. Learning is endless. The more you learn, the more you transform,
the more blissful, peaceful and beautiful you become. This life, which has been given to us, is
like a school where we can learn to grow. Don’t miss this opportunity. The birth of a human
is a journey from animal instincts to Godliness. We came from animals and we will go into
divinity, beyond the form of a human being. Don’t waste this precious opportunity, have a
commitment to transform into more and more beauty. Life is not something to be wasted in
vain. Life is to learn and grow into more beautiful, blissful, every day, and every moment. And,
here you are learning the process, the technique, the understanding. You are really fortunate
that you have the solution too.
Click here to watch this recorded talk on YouTube.
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Feel More
Godly Morning!
Friends, let us start the journey towards inner beauty; which is the real beauty. Inner beauty
is the beauty that actually matters. But unfortunately, people don’t work on inner beauty.
Generally, people are concerned only about their outer beauty; their appearance. Like you
receive a nicely packed gift; wrapped in a beautiful paper – with a flower attached. But when
you open it, you find nothing meaningful, useful, and beautiful in it. When you receive such a
beautiful parcel, you feel delighted and can’t wait to open it. In fact, you tear the packing
apart at the first opportunity you get; without giving much thought to the effort that went
into packing it so beautifully. You forget to pause and appreciate the special wrapping paper
that was tastefully selected; or the huge amount of money that may have gone into packing
it. You rip the packing off and find nothing meaningful inside the box. It’s total bullshit!
Don’t you think this happens in relationships too? You have crush on someone who is
beautiful. You call it love at first sight. And then, fortunately or unfortunately, you get that
person. After a few days, you say “Bullshit!” So, the packing or appearance is not that
important. What lies within is more important. But we don’t work on what’s inside. I am not
talking about the gift here. I’m talking about people like you and me. Appearance can be
manipulated. We work very hard on our appearance before we actually appear in front of
others.
So, the thing is that the packing is not very important. Of course it is nice if the appearance is
beautiful. Have compassion for others who look at you. It’s good they see a beautiful
appearance. But without inner beauty, a beautiful face and body don’t have much value. If
you were to compare the container with the content, what will you give more weightage to?
Won’t you rather want what’s inside? Won’t you say let the packing go to hell, just give me
the gift without the wrapping? What is inside is what matters, right? At the most, the packing
is useful in order to protect the gift from breaking. But in the case of human beings, how can
we forget that appearance is not that important? If someone gives you the Kohinoor diamond
in a cheap plastic bag used by the vegetable vendors, will the packing matter? Who cares
about the plastic bag if one gets the Kohinoor? But in general, nobody works on that. Inner
beauty is what matters.
Therefore, it is correct to say that outer beauty is just skin deep. Do you know the depth of
the skin? There is hardly any depth in it. Someone who is concerned only about the outer
beauty cares only about the surface – there’s no depth! People are more concerned about
outer beauty and aren’t concerned about inner beauty at all, hardly so. People, in general
worry about the unimportant and take for granted what is important.
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Let us work on inner beauty. Let us have a beautiful mind; let us have a flowered heart; and
let us have an awakened soul. Let us become beautiful in the real sense. And once we have a
beautiful mind, a beautiful heart, and an awakened soul; it doesn’t matter whether the outer
surface is beautiful or not. The fact is that the appearance of the body will deteriorate sooner
or later. Therefore inner beauty matters the most. Inner beauty is when one has a beautiful
mind, a beautiful heart, and an awakened soul. Let us work on that.
This is a spiritual beauty parlour. In a different session, we’ve talked about a beautiful mind.
But now I will ask you come to your heart. Move from mind to heart. Move from thoughts to
feelings. How can one be called a human being if he has no feelings and emotions? Someone
who is only capable of thinking and analysis can either be a machine, or a robot – not a human
being. May be in due course of time, scientists will be able to develop robots that are more
efficient than human beings at every level. Look at calculators. A simple calculator can
calculate way faster than human beings. A computer works far faster than human beings.
Computers are more efficient, faster, accurate, and better than the human beings. Software
can be called the mind of the computer and the hardware, its body. Both humans and
computers have a body and a mind. What is the difference between the two? Ok, let’s say
the computer is dependent on electricity in order to work. But aside of that, what is the
difference between the two? The real difference is that the computer doesn’t have any
feelings. What is played on the computer doesn’t affect it in any way. Whether you play
something spiritual or carnal doesn’t affect the computer – it only affects you. That is the
difference.
I am not saying that we are exactly the same as computers. But lack of feelings to an extent
makes us like computers. The more feelings we have, the more human we are. The less we
feel, the more machine-like we are. You might think that I am talking about the others right
now. You might think to yourself, Thank God, I do have feelings. I feel for my mother, my child,
my spouse, etc. But I’m telling you we do not have even 2 percent of the feelings that we
should. Feelings make our heart healthy. Let me give you an example and then you will
understand the pattern we follow and the way we live. We use only our mind in most
scenarios, and the heart gets no opportunity to breathe. Some external force has to work very
hard to make your heart active. Otherwise, the heart is always asleep and the mind works
endlessly. Compare and see how much your heart works and how much your mind works.
You will realise that I was generous when I said that the heart works 2 percent as compared
to the mind. Compare and see that the mind works non-stop, and the heart works rarely.
Because even if the heart wants to activate, awaken, feel something; the mind immediately
shuts it up. This is the way we live. Contemplate. This is no philosophy. I am simply stating the
fact. Let me share an example so you’re able to understand. When you go away from the city
to a tourist destination; and you want to see the sunset. You’ve all seen sunsets and sunrises
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before. But the fact is, without feelings, we’re blind – despite our physical eyes being fine.
How can we see the beauty if we have no feelings? Only when we have a beautiful heart can
we actually see the beauty outside. Not everyone is able to enjoy beauty. If a cow sees a rose,
she will only smell it to check if it is okay to be eaten or not. Beauty is not much of a concern
for the cow. She will not think of decorating her hair with the beautiful rose. Her only concern
is whether it can be eaten or not. So, you find the cow laughable? Let’s talk about you
watching the sunset. When people tell you stories of how beautiful the sunset is, you want to
watch it too. You are under the impression that you watched the sunset because you did see
a ball of fire hide itself behind the hills. But in reality, you have not seen the sunset if there
was a constant commentary of the mind in the background. If the mind doesn’t stop
commenting on how far the sun has gone, and the colour of it, and when it will completely
vanish – you are not able to enjoy the sunset in the real sense. If you were actually engrossed
in the beauty of the sunset, the commentary wasn’t required. The mind had no role to play.
Either you can pay heed to the commentary of the mind or you can enjoy the feeling. The fact
is: there is a lot of background commentary in everything we do. This commentary filters our
experience of feelings. We don’t feel anything with totality. If I gave you a delicious candy
right now and asked you to taste it with totality without the mind playing a role, will you be
able to? I am just asking you to taste the candy and notice the feeling you get. You’ll realise
that just a little candy can give you more pleasure and satisfaction than something that costs
crores of rupees.
But for this, you have to put your mind aside and feel your feelings. Notice your feelings
without letting your mind interfere. You will then be able to notice how we are different from
computers. The computer has no impact of what you play on the screen – beautiful or ugly,
male or female, dressed or overdressed. That is exactly how the constant commentary of your
mind doesn’t let you enjoy things. Human being is becoming more and more mechanical.
Machines are efficient but they are unaffected by the beauty around. On the contrary, if there
are feelings in a human being, there is beauty in his life. So you need to regain and cultivate
feelings. You don’t need commentary all the time. I would simply say to you - think less; feel
more.
You can be aware of your intuition. But the mind keeps interrupting with its commentary. You
need to draw a line between when the mind is needed and when you should give it a break.
If you’re listening to music, there is no need for the mind to be active. On the other hand, a
professional musician will not be able to enjoy the music like you do, because there will be a
constant commentary at the back of his mind. There will be a constant commentary on
whether the music is being played with the right notes or not, etc. If a professional orator was
listening to me, he would completely miss out on the content of what I am saying. His mind
will constantly comment on whether I am talking the right way, or sitting in the right posture,
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or why am I using two different languages for the same topic, etc. His mind’s commentary will
make him lose out on the essence.
So, cultivate your heart; and cultivate your feelings. Feel things. When you eat something,
don’t immediately announce it is very tasty. Wait for a minute and actually feel the food. The
fact is that we hardly enjoy the taste and the feel of food. That is why we need to use
additional flavours that make us sharply aware of the taste of the food; silencing the noise in
our head. For this very reason, we like our food too spicy, too sour, or too sweet. If that isn’t
the case, we remain so engrossed in the mind that we don’t feel anything. The reason is that
we are not sensitive. The mind isn’t sensitive, the heart is. Since we are so connected to the
mind, we’re not sensitive.
The question is – how can we be sensitive? How can we cultivate feelings? The solution is –
be sensitive. When I say be sensitive, I mean be aware of what your senses sense. This is my
definition of being sensitive. Pay attention to the sight, taste, smell, sound, and touch.
Cultivate the awareness to feel your senses without any judgement.
I remember an example. A person was lying on the couch with his eyes closed when the
psychiatrist pushed his belly. The psychiatrist asked the person about what he felt. The person
responded that you pushed my stomach with your hand. The psychiatrist asked him the same
question ten times, and his response was same every single time. Actually, it is the mind telling
the person that the stomach is being pushed with the hand. All he was feeling was the
pressure. His eyes were closed, so there was no way for him to tell whether the pressure came
from the hand or something else. Pressure on the stomach was the actual feeling – stomach
being pressed by hand was mind’s interpretation.
So you need to cultivate feelings. Notice your feelings about things. This will make decision
making easier for you; because your body will communicate to you when you become
sensitive. If your body gives a comfortable feeling about something, the decision is likely to
turn out right. If the body gives feels uncomfortable about something, the decision might turn
out to be wrong.
Be sensitive. Be aware of the feeling when you eat food. Be aware of the feeling while listening
to music. Keep the mind aside during that time. Lose yourself in the beauty if the scenery
around you is beautiful. Ask your mind to stop the commentary about how blue the sky is and
how clean the water is. Just feel the beauty like a child looks at something, totally
mesmerised. When a 3 month old baby looks at the same sunset as you, his mind doesn’t
comment on how blue the sky is and how red the sun looks. Look at beauty exactly like a baby,
be awestruck, be mesmerised, be astonished! We need to regain this capacity.
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Mind is a wonderful slave but an ugly master. If we use the mind, it is great. If the mind uses
us, it is ugly. We need to develop the art of mastering the mind. If we have to choose between
the mind and the heart; the heart is a better master. But things are just the opposite. Mind is
ruling the kingdom of the heart. The heart is serving its own kingdom as a slave. The slave has
taken over the kingdom; and the king is living like a weak slave. We need to empower the real
king again.
Be aware of your feelings. Live your feelings more and more. When a song plays, feel it. Be
present in the moment and feel. This will make you a beautiful human being. Cultivate your
feelings. Just light an Agarbatti (incense stick), close your eyes, and feel the fragrance. Don’t
interpret if it is rose or sandal. Tell your mind that it has no role in feeling the fragrance. Use
your mind when you buy the incense sticks and buy the cheapest one. Enjoy the fragrance
with totality and I am telling you – a 10 paisa incense stick can give you the bliss that you
thought marriage would bring, but didn’t. You’d realise that you could’ve found bliss at a
much cheaper price. If you have inner beauty, you cannot be exploited; you cannot have such
deals in your life. You can go for such rip-offs only if you do not have inner beauty.
Click here to watch this recorded talk on YouTube.
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Beauty beyond Head & Heart
Whether our life will be blissful or miserable, whether our life will be a nightmare or beautiful
– depends on whether we are beautiful inside or not. Outer beauty does not affect how our
life will turn out to be. Physical beauty has nothing to do with whether life will turn out to be
positive, beautiful, and peaceful or not. It depends on inner beauty. That is why it is possible
for people to have extremely beautiful faces, but extremely miserable lives – and
conventionally ugly people might attain to the ultimate bliss and peace. Ashtavakra is one
such example – he attained to the ultimate bliss.
If you are a fearful person inside, everything about life will scare you. Fear is one such feeling
that if it grows, even simple things like leaving the house or crossing the road become great
challenges. That is why there are so many kinds of phobias. Someone is scared of water;
someone is scared of heights, and many such things. Courage is an attribute of the inner
beauty. Fearlessness is an attribute of the inner beauty.
Acha hota ke aag bujhaane mein marte tum,
Ye kya ke jaan bachaane mein marr gaye…
(It was better to have died in trying to extinguish the fire. You died an inglorious death trying
to save your life.)
This is the story of an ordinary person’s life. One dies trying to save his life. Life is nothing
more than a gradual death. The person might die at 50, or 60, or even at 70. But the life he
spends is as good as gradual death. Ordinary life can be compared to a pot of water that has
been put on the stove to boil. It takes its time to boil. But the process of boiling starts the
minute it has been placed on the stove. Similarly, life becomes a long tale of suffering. Your
own suffering is a tragedy; someone else’s suffering is a comedy. But suffering is definitely
there – because there is no inner beauty.
One needs a beautiful mind, a beautiful heart, and an awakened soul to cultivate inner
beauty. The mind should be a servant, not a master. It shouldn’t be able to control us; it should
be under our control. The heart should bloom like a lotus; its fragrance should spread inside
and out. A cultivated heart is needed in order to live life in its totality, to drink the nectar that
life has to offer. The mind cannot experience the beauty that life offers. When one uses their
mind in loving the others, the love is only a performance – not a feeling. What use is the mind
in the moments of love? Love is a feeling. To live the beauty that life offers, a cultivated heart
is needed. The mind cannot taste life. The mind can only analyze the taste and give it a name.
So the definition of a beautiful mind is when the mind is a servant, not a master. And, when
the mind is a servant and the heart is also active – it makes for a wonderful harmony.
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They say love is blind. The heart has no eyes but has feet. The mind has eyes but no feet.
Harmony between the two will avoid a person from falling into a pit. I always say if there is a
choice between head (mind) and heart – let the heart decide.
But if there is another choice apart from head and heart, who should be allowed to decide?
Our ‘Being’ should be the ultimate master. Cultivate your Being. Once the Being starts to
awaken, the heart will start flowering on its own and the mind will also become beautiful. The
journey has two aspects. One, when you awaken your Being, when you become meditative –
and the heart flowers and the mind becomes wise. When I talk about meditation, I mean that
there will be an entity inside you that is beyond mind, body, as well as emotion. It is your very
Being – and it witnesses your body, mind and emotion. This layer is deeper than the head as
well as the heart. Ordinarily people become so attached with the body itself that the beauty
of their body becomes a matter of huge importance. The Being realizes it to be aloof from the
body, from the mind and from the heart too – it is the witnessing consciousness, awareness.
It is our true self. There is a need to awaken the Being. Our Being is our true self, so we can
also say that we are asleep. We need to wake up. That’s why they say:
Ab jag musafir bhor bhayi, ab rain kahan jo sowat hai……
(Wake up, O wanderer! For it isn’t night anymore that you sleep)
This is the awakening that is being talked about, not physical awakening. Everything starts to
change once this awakening starts to grow in life. It has a ripple effect. The layer of feelings is
the closest to our Being. Once the awakening starts to happen, our feelings become beautiful.
Once the feelings become beautiful, our thoughts become pure and beautiful. It’s a two-way
journey. You can start inside out or outside in. If you find it difficult to enter into meditation;
if you find it difficult to feel deep, beautiful emotions; you can start with knowledge. You can
start with the beautification of the mind first. The journey can begin with getting to know the
tricks and sickness of the mind. Once you get to understand the sickness of the mind, the
mind starts to lose its power and control. The heart starts to activate. When you give attention
to the cultivation of the heart, it becomes easier to slip into meditation.
The other path is to start with meditation first. You can start with awakening your
consciousness, your Being and your heart will start flowering as a by-product. And it will then
beautify the mind. It’s a two way journey – from the mind to the Being and also from the
Being to the mind.
This is beauty in its totality. When inner beauty starts to grow, things on the outside become
beautiful too. Your physical beauty doesn’t matter anymore. When you become beautiful
from inside, your presence becomes beautiful, your vibes become positive. A physically
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attractive person can also be repulsive. On the other hand, someone who doesn’t have an
attractive face may have a very pleasurable presence. Inner beauty radiates on the outside.
When you have a beautiful mind, a beautiful heart and an awakened soul, the journey
towards beauty is complete. That is why meditation has the ultimate significance; nothing is
more important than meditation. People have several misconceptions that meditation isn’t
for them; it is meant for old people, etc. But there is no human being who does not need
meditation, not even a single person - because the very meaning of meditation is to know and
live your true self. It is like someone plays a particular part in a play and forgets his own
identity. Something like this has happened before – I don’t remember the exact name.
Someone was playing Abraham Lincoln in a play. That play was performed in a lot of cities
and a lot of times. This person playing Abraham Lincoln started living the character. They said
a good actor lives the character he plays; that is how he’s able to act naturally. Natural Acting
is a contradiction in terms, if you look at it! For the ease of understanding, it’s okay. So the
same thing happened with this gentleman playing Abraham Lincoln. He started living the
character. But just imagine! Will the guards of the Parliament let him enter the assembly? The
guards know that this gentleman isn’t Abraham Lincoln. They might even give him a kick or
two if he tries to force his way in. Just imagine how the life of a person who thinks he is
Abraham Lincoln. He will get brickbats from everywhere. Create a character for yourself and
imagine how life would be if you really start living like it. Take a character from Ramlila. Some
people might support it too and might touch your feet in reverence. Some old women might
ask you to predict their future. But how many days will all this drama work? How far will you
go? People will eventually start teasing you. A lot of people don’t even chain their dog. And
dogs have something against people who dress up even slightly differently from the rest of
the world. I am not naming any character just so your religious sentiments are not hurt. But
you think of a character on your own. OK, imagine Raavana, at least, that won’t hurt anyone’s
religious sentiments. Imagine what will happen after you leave this place. You will not be able
to show your face to anyone – because it’ll take time to decide which of the ten faces to show.
When you leave this place to go home, you will want to go to Lanka, because that is home for
the character you’re in. You will have to drive with the window shades down because the ten
heads will not be able to fit in the car. And will you drive? You’d need a chariot, right? Where
will you find a chariot? If by any chance you do manage to reach home, your mother and your
wife will throw you out of the house. What will you do? Who will feed you? You’ll have to
resort to begging when you’re hungry.
Now come to think of it. The same thing is actually going on. You have identified with a
character and you think that you are that. But because everyone around you is playing some
or the other character in a play, you do not realise that it is a play. Names can be different.
The name doesn’t have to be Abraham Lincoln or Raavana. The names can be Gaurav and
Saurabh. If I were to ask you who you really are, you will say Suresh Khetarpal, or Naresh
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Chaddha (disclaimer: the names are used solely for the purpose of illustration; there is no
resemblance to any person living or dead). The name has been given to you by your family.
Taking birth in a Hindu family makes you a Hindu; taking birth in a Muslim family makes you
a Muslim. The anatomy makes you a boy or a girl. In reality, you are a formless immortal
consciousness which is permanently peaceful and blissful. That is your real identity. When
you identify and start living your real self, you become blissful – you go beyond fear. Is it not
important to identify your real self? It’s like you are a king and while taking a stroll outside
your palace, you hurt yourself and lose your memory. If a Dhaba-wala gives you food and
makes you work in his Dhaba in return, you’d start believing yourself to be the Chotu of the
dhaba. It might take four years or forty, for someone to recognize that you are the king and
introduce you to your real self. You might even retaliate and tell this person that he’s lying.
But think from this other person’s perspective. It is such a misfortune that the king considers
himself to be the servant at a small restaurant and does odd jobs in lieu of food. The king now
finds happiness that he has been promoted – he doesn’t do dishes any longer. He’s started
cooking instead. He knows his appraisal is also due in some time. He is looking forward to
becoming a waiter one day – because waiters also get hefty tips. So when he is asked to
recognize his real self, he says why do I need to know? It’s for old people. Old people should
pursue the path of self-realization.
So everyone needs to meditate to know your true self. When you start spending time in
meditation, you start getting glimpses of your Being. Mind starts to grow, heart starts to
cultivate, the whole pattern of life starts to change, you start to transform effortlessly.
Courage starts to grow in life. Insecurities feel like adventures and you start to enjoy them.
Life starts to feel like a game. Life becomes beautiful in the real sense when you awaken the
inner consciousness through meditation and wisdom.
I see that you people are beautiful in the real sense. I see a transforming mind, a flowering
heart, and an awakening soul. I see it every day. I see people transforming. You see the
transformation too. You notice the change too. You find yourself different from people who
are living in the outside world without inner beauty. You find their misery and complaints
childish; because your life has begun to transform. There are a few people here who do not
make enough efforts towards making their lives beautiful. The so-called promotions make
them all excited. I’ve heard a washer man had a donkey, and he beat him every single day.
Other donkeys asked him why he doesn’t run away. The donkey always replied that he had a
bright future. “Whenever the washer man’s pretty daughter does something wrong, he tells
her he will marry her off to a donkey. So I am looking forward to the day he marries her
daughter off to me.”
So whether you marry a beauty queen or the most eligible bachelor, Salman Khan; whether
you get the visa for the USA or you buy a bungalow in Delhi – you will not be able to enjoy
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anything at all if there is no inner beauty. Don’t believe it just because I am saying it. See for
yourself. Thousands of your dreams have already come true. Try and recall – you had so many
dreams and plans since childhood. You had thought if I achieve this, I will be blissful; if I
achieve that, my life will be beautiful. And those dreams have come true. But life is just the
same story of misery. They say: what you sow, so shall you reap. What have you been sowing
so far that you’re reaping only thorns, not flowers. There’s a Hindi proverb:
Boya beej babool ka, aam kahan se hoye?
(If you’ve sown Acacia, how can you expect Mangoes?)
I don’t know at what point did you sow Acacia, but I can guarantee you have not sown
Mangoes. Sowing mangoes is symbolic of awakening your consciousness through meditation;
letting love rise in your heart; making wisdom part of your life. Wisdom for the mind, Love for
the heart, and meditation for the soul – these are the ingredients of a truly complete life.
Click here to watch this recorded talk on YouTube.
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