.

What is the reason for the softness that you see in the eyes of children? They express whatever they feel; their energies don't create any blockages. When they are angry they express their anger, when they are jealous they show it, when they want to snatch a toy from another child they do it. There is no suppression in the lives of children -- that's why they are so innocent.

There is suppression in your life and that is where the complications begin. A block in the energy reflects an inner complexity -- something happens inside but you show something else outside. Then where will the energy which is not released go? It will become an energy_block.

What I mean by an energy_block is that it is stuck in your mind or in your body like a knot. It is just like in a river when part of the water starts to freeze and pieces of ice float in the river. As the pieces become bigger and bigger, the flow of the river is obstructed more and more. If all the water freezes the river will stop flowing altogether. So you are like a river which has blocks of ice floating in it. It is necessary to melt this ice.

These energy-blocks are like blocks of ice floating in your lifestream. The repressed impulses of hatred, of anger and of sex have become like big blocks of ice inside you. Now they will not let the flow of life go on. Some people's lives have become totally frozen, there is no flow at all. It is absolutely necessary to melt the ice, and to melt the ice a creative method should be used. I have explained two creative ways to do this: one is to let go of the old blocked impulses and the other is to make a creative use of new impulses.

If you look at little children they have so much passion, so much energy inside them. If you leave them in the house they will touch this and bang that, break this and crush that. And you tell them, "Don't do this, don't do that." You tell them not to do something but you don't tell them what to do instead. And you don't know what a child is doing when he breaks a glass. The energy inside him needs some outlet. Now there is no other way, so he picks up a glass and by banging that glass his energy finds an outlet, it is released. But then you tell him, "Don't damage the glass," and he stops banging the glass. He goes outside, and now he wants to pick the flowers. You say, "Don't touch the flowers." He cannot even tough the flowers. He goes inside and picks up a book and you say, "Don't damage the book." You have told him what not to do but you have not told him what to do. So blocks have begun in that child and now they will become more entangled, and one day there will only be these blocks. There will only be 'don;t do this, don't do that' inside him. He will not understand what he should do.

What I mean by a creative way is that he should be told what to do. If he is banging the glass it means that he has energy and he wants to do something. You have said don't do this; it would be better if you give him some clay and say, "Make a glass. Make a glass just like this glass."

This would be a creative use of his energy. Do you understand me? When he went to pick flowers you could have given him some paper and said, "Make a flower like this one." This would have been a creative use of his energy. He is tearing up a book or has picked up a book: you should give him something else to do so that he can use his energy.

Nowadays education is totally uncreative, which is why the life of a child is ruined right from the beginning. We are all ruined children--the only difference is that we are adults. Otherwise we are all ruined children: right from our childhood everything has gone wrong and then all our lives we go on doing these wrong things.

As I said, creativity means that whenever energy arises it should be used in a creative way so that something emerges out of it and nothing is destroyed. The energy that someone uses to always criticize everyone can be used to write a song. And do you know? -- it is the people who cannot write a song and cannot write poetry who become critics. It is the same energy. Critics also have the same energy to write a song or to create a poem, but they don't use it in a creative way. All they do is criticize others: who is writing badly and who is doing what. This is a destructive use. The world could become a much better place if we were to use our energy, all the energy inside us, in a creative way.

And remember that energy is never good or bad. Even the energy of anger is not good or bad, it all depends on how it is used. Don't think that the energy of anger is bad; energy  cannot be good or bad. Even atomic energy is neither good nor bad: with it the whole world can be destroyed and a whole world can be created. All energy is neutral, no energy is good or bad. If used for destructive purposes it becomes bad, if used creatively it becomes good.

So you should change the way you use the energy of anger, of desire, of sex, of hatred, and use it in a creative way. Just as when someone brings manure it smells very bad, it stinks, but the gardener uses it in his garden, waters it and sows seeds. Through these seeds the manure becomes a tree. And the stink of manure passes through the veins of the tree and converts into the fragrance of the flowers. This same dirt, this same manure which used to smell bad becomes a flower and gives out a sweet fragrance. This is a transformation of energy. This is a transmutation of energy.

Everything about you that gives off a bad smell can change into something sweet-smelling -- the same things -- because what stinks can also smell sweet. So don't feel guilty if there is anger inside you -- this is energy and you are fortunate to have it. And don't think that you are too sexual -- this is just energy and you are fortunate that it is there. It would be unfortunate if you had no sexuality, it would be unfortunate if you could not get angry, if you were impotent. Then you would be useless because there would be no energy in you which could be used. So you are fortunate to have this energy. Be grateful for all the energies inside you. Now it is up to you how you use it.

All the great men in the world have been very sexual. It would be strange if they had not been sexual, because if they had not been they could not have become great.

You know about Gandhi -- he was very sexual. And the day his father died ...the doctors had told him that his father would not survive, but even on that night he could not be near his father -- when his father died he was making love with his wife. The doctors had already told him that his father would not survive that night and that he should be by his bedside during the night; it was certain that he would not survive the night. Gandhi was very repentant about this: "What kind of a man am I?" But he should have been grateful for his sexuality because that same sexuality made him a celibate -- the same energy. If he had sat next to his father that night, it is certain that no Gandhis would have been born into this world. Under the same circumstances most of us would have stayed with our fathers not just one night, even two nights -- but there would have been no Gandhis. What must have seemed like a bad smell to him on that night later on became the frangrance of his life.

So don't reject any energy. Don't reject any energy that arises in you. Consider it a blessing and try to transform it. All energy can be changed and can be transformed. And what appears to you to be bad can be transformed. And what appears to you to be bad can be transformed into something fragrant, something beautiful.

I have discussed some of the questions, so the remaining ones we will discuss tomorrow.

This morning I spoke about the first step for a seeker. I also spoke about the different ways to purify the body. In the second layer of man's personality are his thoughts. The body should be pure and the mind should also be pure. The third layer is the emotions, and when the emotions are pure then the foundation for meditation is ready. When these three things have happened you will experience great joy. There will be tremendous peace in your life. If these three things have been accomplished, you will have a new life.

But these are just the basic steps to prepare you for meditation. In a sense, they are the outer practice. The inner practice is still deeper -- in it we surrrender the body, thoughts and emotions to purify them and make them empty. In the outer practice the body is purified, in the inner practice the body is surrendered. You enter a bodiless state, you enter a state of no-mind and you enter a state which is free of emotions. But before this can happen it is first necessary to remove the impurities within yourself.

I have spoken to you about the body; now I will speak about thoughts. What are the impurities of the mind?

Thoughts are very whimsical. Thoughts also leave an impression on the mind, whether good or bad. The things that a person thinks will also affect his personality. If someone is thinking of beauty, if a person is constantly reflecting on beauty, it is quite natural that is will also make his personality more beautiful. If someone is thinking about God, about the divine, and his thoughts revlve around this, it is natural that his life will become filled with the divine. If someone is thinking about trust it is natural that trust will become part of him.

In this context I would like to ask you to reflect on the things which are constantly on your mind. What do you think about all the time? Most of you are either thinking about money, sex or power.

Many years ago there was king in China. One day he went to the border of his kingdom which was by the ocean, and he took his chief minister with him. They were both standing at the top of a hill watching the ocean which stretched for miles. There were many ships sailing by, coming and going, and the king asked the minister, "How many ships are coming in and how many are going out?"

The minister replied, "I have seen only three ships: one of money, one of sex and one of power. We spend our whole lives traveling on these three ships."

This is true: our thought processes travel on these three ships. And anyone who travels on these ships will not become pure in thought. He will have pure thoughts only when he gets off these three ships. So it is important for everyone to observe the thougths that recur in his mind; what are the wounds in his mind around which his thoughts revolve. The thoughts to which his mind returns again and again will be his basic weakness. So everyone must discover this: is it money, is it sex or is it power? Do you constantly think about one of these things? Do you think about lying? Do you think about dishonesty, about cheating? These are all the minor things, the first three are the major points. If your mind revolves around these three then your thoughts are impure. They are called impure thoughts because as long as you are thinknig them you cannot know truth.

Purity of thought is the same as what in India we call truth, goodness and beauty. Pure thoughts focus on these three states.How much do you think about truth?  Do you think about truth at all? Do you every wonder what truth is? In a quiet moment, does your mind ever wonder about it? In a quiet moment, does your mind ever wonder about it? Are you ever in anguish over the thought of truth? Do you ever feel you want to understand what beauty is? Do you ever feel you want to understand what happiness is?

If your mind is troubled by impure thoughts, then your mind is impure, and it is not possible to attain to enlightenment with an impure mind.

Impure thoughts take you outwards and pure thoughts take you inside. Impure thoughts flow outwards and downwards and pure thoughts flow inwards and upwards. It is impossible for someone who is thinking of truth, of goodness, of beauty, to not find his life colored by them. [/b]