Meditation Chapter No.19, Mysticism, reading, forums, Numerology, Sun Signs, Divination

Posts: 4978 · Posted: Sat Jun 02, 2007 6:49 am

Gandhi was once in prison. He used to constantly think about truth, about renunciation, about non-attachment. In those days he used to eat ten dates soaked overnight in water for breakfast. Vallabhbhai Patel was also in jail with him. He wondered, "Is this any kind of breakfast, just ten date? How can it be enough?"

He used to soak the date for Gandhi, so one day he soaked fifteen dates. He thought, "How will this old man know whether there are ten dates or fifteen? He will just eat them."

Gandhi saw that there were a few more dates. He said, "Vallabhbhai, please count the dates."

When the dates were counted there were fifteen of them. Gandhi said, "There are fifteen."

Vallabhbhai said, "What difference will it make if there are ten or fifteen?"

Gandhi closed his eyes and thought for a few minutes. He said, "Vallabhbhai, you have given me a great idea. You said, "What is the difference between ten and fifteen?' so I have understood that there is no difference between ten and five either."

Gandhi said,"From today onwards I will only eat five dates. You have shown me a most wonderful thing, that there is no difference between ten and fifteen.

Vallabhbhai became afraid, He said, "I said that only so that you would eat a little more. I never imagined that you would think this way."

Someone who is always thinking about eating less and less will always give this kind of answer, and someone who is thinking about eating more will not see any difference between ten and fifteen. But for someone who continuously thinks of eating less, there is no difference between five and ten. So what you think will begin to show in your daily habits.

I will tell you one more story.

Gandhi used to drink warm water with a little honey and lime in it. Mahadev Desai was his close companion, and one day he was preparing the warm water for him. The water was hot, boiling hot; there was steam coming out of it. When Gandhi came after a few minutes Mahadev Desai gave him the water. Gandhi looked at it for a moment and said, "It would have been better if you had covered it."

Mahadev said, "What can happen in five minutes? And I was watching it, nothing fell in it."

Gandhi said, "It is not a question of anything falling into it. There is steam coming out of it which must have hurt some organisms." Gandhi said, "It is not a question of covering it or anything falling into it, but there is steam coming out of it and it must have harmed many organisms in the air. There is no other reason, but they could have been saved."

It is natural for someone who is always thinking of non-violence to think and act like this. So I tell you, if you are continuously thinking about something it will bring about a change in your everyday behaviour.

This morning a friend came with this news. He said, "It is very sad that in spite of inviting some people twice, they are still not here, they are ten minutes late." He felt sad that in spite of inviting people twice, they had not come. If it were me, I would say instead that it is nice that so many people have come after being invited only twice, and I would say that it would have been even nicer if the people who didn't come could also be here. This would be the non-violent approach. His was a violent approach, there was violence in it.

So what I am saying to you is that if you think a little, if you create a few devices for yourelf to purify your thoughts, you will find that slowly, slowly there will be changes in even your smallest actions. Even your language will become non-violent, your movements will become non-violent. Your thoughts can transform your whole life. Whatever you think has an effect on your life because your thoughts have immense power.

So much depends on what you think about all the time. If you are constantly thinking of money and you are trying to meditate, then you are moving in two opposing direftions. It is just as if you were to tie two buffalos, one on each end of a cart. The cart will break in two with the force of the bufffalos pulling in opposite directions, and it will not move forward.

If your thoughts are pure then you will find that there will be immense changes in even your smallest acts. Life is not made of great deeds, it is made up of small things. How you get up, how you sit, how you talk, what you say -- much depends on this. And the main source from where all this action emerges is the mind.

So your thoughts should be oriented towards truth, goodness and beauty. Let there be a constant remembrance of truth in your life. Whenever you find time, reflect on truth, reflect on goodness and on beauty. And whenever you are about to do something, before you begin, think for a moment whether what you are about to do will be in harmony with truth, goodness and beauty or against them. If there are thoughts in your mind, consider whether this flow of thoughts is conducive to truth, to goodness and to beauty. If it is the opposite, then stop these thoughts immediately, don't encourge them. They will be harmful to you, they will pull you down and ruin your life. So be aware of the kinds of thoughts that are running through your head and with courage, effort, perseverance and determination divert them towards purity and truth.

Many times you will feel that you don't even know what truth is. Many times you will think that you don't even know what goodness is. It is possible that you may not be able to decide, but at least you have thought
about it and have tried to find out. This in itself is good and will bring about changes in you. And someone who is continuously reflecting will slowly, slowly realize that he knows what truth and what goodness is.

Before every thought, every word and every act, stop for a moment. There is no hurry. See what you are about to do, what its result will be. What does it tell you? What will happen as a result of it? It is very important for a seeker to think this way.

So the first thing about the basic purification of thought is to observe what the central focus of your thoughts is. If you don't focus in any one of the ways that I am talking about, then it will be helpful for you to develop this practice.

You will be surprised to know that of the three aspects -- truth, goodness, beauty -- if even one is active in you then the other two will also automatically become active. And I should mention to you that there are three types of people. One type has a possibility for a quick awakening of the truth aspect, the second type has a possibility for a quick blossoming of the aspect of goodness and the third type has a possibility for a quick blossoming of the aspect of beauty.

For each of you there will be one dominant aspect, but if even one aspect becomes active then the other two will automatically become active. If a person is a lover of beauty he will not be a liar because lying is such an ugly thing. If a person is a lover of beauty he will not be able to do any wrong because it is so ugly to do any wrong. This means that he will not be able to steal because stealing is so ugly. So if he is totally devoted to beauty, much can become possible because of it.

Once, Gandhi was a guest at Rabindranath Tagore's house. Rabindranath was old at the time. He was lover of beauty; he was not concerned with truth or goodness. This only means that these were not his direct paths -- he was a lover of beauty. Gandhi was his guest. It was evening and the two were about to go out for a walk when Rabindranath said, "Wait a moment, I would like to comb my hair."

Gandhi said, "What an absurd thing to say. Comb your hair?"

Gandhi had shaved his head so he did not have the problem of combing his hair. And in his old age to worry about combing one's hair was a bit strange, and for Gandhi it was unthinkable. He waited a bit angrily but he could not say anything to Rabindranath.

Rabindranath went inside. Two minutes passed, five minutes passed, ten minutes passed. Gandhi was surprised that he was taking so long. What was he doing inside? He looked through the window and saw that Rabindranath was standing before a full-length mirror, combing his hair. Gandhi simply could not tolerate this anymore. He said, "I cannot understand what you are doing. The time for our walk is being wasted. And why do you need to comb your hair? What is the point of combing your hair at your age?"

Rabindranath went outside and he said, "When I was young it would not have mattered if I did not comb my hair, but now that I have become old it will not do if I don't comb it. And don't think that I am trying to look good; I just don't want to disturb anyone by appearing ugly to them." Rabindranath said, "Don't think that I'm doing this to look good. The body which I am beautifying and moving around in will turn into ashes tomorrow. I know that one day soon it will be on a burning pyre and will turn to ashes. But I don't want to be an ugly sight; I don't want to disturb anyone -- this is why I give it all the attention."

A lover of beauty like Rabindranath will think in these terms. Ugliness is a type of violence towards others. This ugliness can be in any form: it can be in your behavior, in your language or in any other form.

So if you would like to appear to be beautiful, then do it with totality. Become completely beautiful so that your whole life becomes beautiful.

So I don't say that the person who is combing his hair is doing something wrong. I am only saying that besides your hair, there is something else that needs to be beautied. I am not saying that if you are wearing jewelry you are doing something wrong; I am saying that it is okay if you are wearing jewelry, but why not also be a jewel? You have come here wearing spotlessly white clothes. It is good that you are wearing white clothes, but make your inner self also as white as that.

So try to understand what beauty is and you will find that truth and goodness will automatically follow. If you try to understand what goodness is you will also understand beauty and truth. If you try to understand truth you will get the other two also. You can make any of these three your foundation. If one of these is of any interest to you, make it your focus and let all your thoughts resolve around it. Allow your interiority to be touched by it. Choose one of these three and concentrate on it. And if you practice it throughout your life, in every aspect of your life -- in your behavior and in your actions -- slowly, slowly you will observe a strange phenomenon happening: you will be amazed to find that the more you practice it, the more all the unnatural things in your life and all the impure thoughts will become weaker.

I am not asking you to stop thinking about money. What I am saying is that you should start thinking more of goodness, beauty and truth. When you start thinking of beauty you will not be able to think about money, because there is nothing so ugly as thinking about money. When you think about beauty you will not be able to think about sex. So I am emphatically telling you to direct your energy will return from the useless thoughts and the grip that they hae over you will disappear.

With great awareness drop all that is impure and with awareness concentrate on that which is pure. When your thoughts become pure there will be tremendous changes in your life. This is the most important thing about thoughts. It is very important if you want to purify your thoughts.

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