Life 30 (Jun 18 - Oct 18)

[winston]

Why should we give stop worrying?

Each and every one of you must work hard to overcome the habit of sliding into worry and despondency every now and then.

Once this weed takes root in your mind, it assumes many forms to assert its hold.

Every stage of life is fraught with anxiety; every step in your progress is a cause for worry. In fact, birth, death, old age and illness - every one of these multiply worries of their own.

How to get sleep is a cause for worry; how to get up from bed is another worry! Today admission to colleges causes worry; admission to hostels is another worry; then examination causes new worry! But these are matters that are not essential.

They should not cause so much heartburn as the problem of removing the fundamental error in your thought process - ignoring the Divine who inspires and guides you always and forever.

Do not worry. Develop selfless love with faith and share that love with all.

- Divine Discourse, Dec 7, 1978.

A person with faith will not waste time worrying about who will help them, when they devote all their time and efforts to the divine.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Beyond time

The conditioned mind, surely is incapable of finding out what lies beyond time. That is, sirs, the mind as we know it is conditioned by the past.

The past, moving through the present to the future, conditions the mind; and this conditioned mind, being in conflict, in trouble, being fearful, uncertain, seeks something beyond the frontiers of time.

That is what we are all doing in various ways, is it not? But how can a mind which is the result of time ever find that which is timeless?

The house of your beliefs, of your properties, of your attachments and comforting ways of thinking is constantly being broken into. But the mind goes on seeking security, so there is a conflict between what you want and what life’s process demands of you. This is what is happening to every one of us. I do not know if this problem interests you at all.

Everyday existence, with all its troubles, seems to be sufficient for most of us. Our only concern is to find an immediate answer to our various problems. But sooner or later the immediate answers are found to be unsatisfactory because no problem has an answer apart from the problem itself. But if I can understand the problem, all the intricacies of it, then the problem no longer exists.

The Book of Life, September 28, Harper San Francisco, 1995

SourceL Jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Why should we always speak sweetly and respectfully?

By your words, will you be judged.

A king, out on hunting, happened to ride so far that his retinue could not catch up with him. He saw a blind man by the jungle road and so he accosted him, "Hello, dear man. Did you notice any one passing along?" The blind man said, "No."

Then after a few minutes, the minister came along and asked the same man, "Hey brother! Did you notice any one passing along?" and got the same answer.

The commander when he saw him asked, "Here, you fool! Did you notice someone passing along?" and a soldier who came last shouted, "You blind rotter, open your foul mouth and tell me whether any one passed this way."

At last, when the priest of the court came along and said, "Dear brother, please tell me whether any one passed this way," he could reply that a king, a minister, a commander and a soldier had passed and had asked him the same question. Each one’s style of speech had revealed their status and character.

- Divine Discourse, Jul 24, 1964.

The Divine is Love, Peace and Strength.

[winston]

Happiness cannot be pursued

What do you mean by happiness? Some will say happiness consists in getting what you want.

You want a car, and you get it, and you are happy. I want a sari or clothes; I want to go to Europe and if I can, I am happy. I want to be the ... greatest politician, and if I get it, I am happy; if I cannot get it, I am unhappy.

So, what you call happiness is getting what you want, achievement or success, becoming noble, getting anything that you want. As long as you want something and you can get it, you feel perfectly happy; you are not frustrated, but if you cannot get what you want, then unhappiness begins.

All of us are concerned with this, not only the rich and the poor. The rich and the poor all want to get something for themselves, for their family, for society; and if they are prevented, stopped, they will be unhappy.

We are not discussing, we are not saying that the poor should not have what they want. That is not the problem. We are trying to find out what is happiness and whether happiness is something of which you are conscious.

The moment you are conscious that you are happy, that you have much, is that happiness? The moment you are conscious that you are happy, it is not happiness, is it? So you cannot go after happiness. The moment you are conscious that you are humble, you are not humble. So happiness is not a thing to be pursued; it comes. But if you seek it, it will evade you.

The Book of Life, July 3, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: Jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Full heart, empty mind

There is no path to truth, it must come to you.

Truth can come to you only when your mind and heart are simple, clear, and there is love in your heart; not if your heart is filled with the things of the mind.

When there is love in your heart, you do not talk about organizing for brotherhood; you do not talk about belief, you do not talk about division or the powers that create division, you need not seek reconciliation. Then, you are simply a human being without a label, without a country.

This means that you must strip yourself of all those things and allow truth to come into being; and it can come only when the mind is empty, when the mind ceases to create.

Then it will come without your invitation. Then it will come as swiftly as the wind and unbeknown.

It comes obscurely, not when you are watching, wanting. It is there as sudden as sunlight, as pure as the night; but to receive it, the heart must be full and the mind empty. Now you have the mind full and your heart empty.

The Book of Life, August 1, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: Jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

How should we progress in our devotion?

Take the Divine to be your father or mother, but only as a first step leading to a lasting relationship that ends in merging with the absolute.

Do not pause on the steps; enter the mansion to which they lead. The connection with the soul is an everlasting and unchanging association.

As a first step, you offer flowers, lamp, incense to worship the attributeful form. Soon, your devotion should move on to newer offerings that are purer and more valuable and worthier of your Divine.

No one sticks to the slate for long; you too should feel that you must place before the Divine something more lasting than flowers and incense.

You must feel like purifying yourself and making your entire life one fragrant flame. That is real worship, real devotion.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 26, 1961.

Start the day with love, fill the day with love, end the day with love. This is the way to the Divine.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Happiness cannot be pursued

What do you mean by happiness? Some will say happiness consists in getting what you want. You want a car, and you get it, and you are happy. I want a sari or clothes; I want to go to Europe and if I can, I am happy. I want to be the ... greatest politician, and if I get it, I am happy; if I cannot get it, I am unhappy.

So, what you call happiness is getting what you want, achievement or success, becoming noble, getting anything that you want.

As long as you want something and you can get it, you feel perfectly happy; you are not frustrated, but if you cannot get what you want, then unhappiness begins.

All of us are concerned with this, not only the rich and the poor. The rich and the poor all want to get something for themselves, for their family, for society; and if they are prevented, stopped, they will be unhappy.

We are not discussing, we are not saying that the poor should not have what they want. That is not the problem. We are trying to find out what is happiness and whether happiness is something of which you are conscious.

The moment you are conscious that you are happy, that you have much, is that happiness? The moment you are conscious that you are happy, it is not happiness, is it? So you cannot go after happiness.

The moment you are conscious that you are humble, you are not humble. So happiness is not a thing to be pursued; it comes. But if you seek it, it will evade you.

The Book of Life, July 3, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: Jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

Often we plead with the Divine to give us experiences, as acknowledgment of our prayers, so that we may have deeper faith. Is that right?

You clamour for further experience of the divine and ask that your faith might be strengthened therefrom.

To know the taste of sea water, isn’t a drop on the tongue enough? Do you need to drink it all? It is your waywardness, egoism, and pride that makes you doubt and deny what you once tasted!

Isn’t one experience enough? Well, let Me ask, how can the limited know the depth of the Unlimited? How can the ant delve into the mountain?

It is beyond you to gauge the Divine. You have no patience even to deal with the problems of a single family, though it is your responsibility. Imagine the patience that allows the Divine to listen to and solve problems of million families with infinite love!

You can never grasp the strength of this super-worldly bond that ties you to the Divine. The experience of that bond will come to you unaware.

Your duty is to await the moment. Believe and be blessed!

- Divine Discourse, Oct 23, 1961.

You worship with faith and you experience Grace. Faith results in Grace, without your being aware of it.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Action without the process of thought

What do we mean by idea? Surely idea is the process of thought. Is it not?

Idea is a process of mentation, of thinking; and thinking is always a reaction either of the conscious or of the unconscious.

Thinking is a process of verbalization which is the result of memory; thinking is a process of time.

So, when action is based on the process of thinking, such action must inevitably be conditioned, isolated.

Idea must oppose idea, idea must be dominated by idea. There is a gap then between action and idea.

What we are trying to find out is whether it is possible for action to be without idea. We see how idea separates people.

As I have already explained, knowledge and belief are essentially separating qualities. Beliefs never bind people; they always separate people; when action is based on belief or an idea or an ideal, such an action must inevitably be isolated, fragmented.

Is it possible to act without the process of thought, thought being a process of time, a process of calculation, a process of self-protection, a process of belief, denial, condemnation, justification.

Surely, it must have occurred to you as it has to me, whether action is at all possible without idea.

The Book of Life, February 17, Harper San Francisco, 1995

Source: Jkrishnamurthi.com

[winston]

What is our approach to reach the Divine?

There are three types of people who approach the Divine:
a) the eagle type, which swoops down on the target with a greedy swiftness and suddenness that, by its very impact, fails to secure the object coveted;
b) The monkey type, which flits hither and thither, from one fruit to another, unable to decide which is tasty;
c) and the ant type, which moves steadily but slowly toward the desirable object.

The ant does not hit the fruit hard and make it fall away, nor does it pluck all the fruits it sees; it appropriates just as much as it can assimilate, and no more.

Do not fritter away the time allotted to you for sojourning on Earth in foolish foppery and fault finding, which always keep you outdoors.

When are you going to walk indoors into the warmth and quiet of your own interior? Now and then, retire into solitude and silence; experience the joy derivable only from within.

- Divine Discourse, Oct 26, 1961.

An aspirant must bear all circumstances with patience; that is the most beneficial path.

Source: radiosai.org