Summary: Explains that sadhana requires one to be self-critical and that the presence of the Guru puts a constant pressure for change. Explains that the Teacher is not there to pamper the ego, but guide and lead to the Truth. Teaches that a sadhak needs sincere and hard work with his personality formation since sadhana is an intense process.

C. reads the sentence of the day: ‘The Master is not here to pamper you. He is here to bring you to liberation from your own self, which can become your enemy, from your own pettiness.’ – Giridharji

Can you read it again? (C. reads)

(To F.): Do you want to say something? I feel you are preparing to say something.

F.: I think that one of the reasons why it can sometimes be very difficult here is to understand really what kind of work we are trying to do which is very different from courses in which they tell you how nice you are. Giridharji is not someone who is here to tell us how special we are. He starts very gradually and then it becomes harder and harder, and it hurts. And that is why reactions come up. But alone we do not manage to go beyond ourselves because it is so easy to justify ourselves, to say it’s our nature. We should change it. And I can imagine it can be quite an uncomfortable position for Him too as he gets our reactions.

Yes, I have my moments of indigestion, to feed out of people’s egos all the time is quite something. I mean, I have a good stomach, but once in a while wouldn’t mind a holiday! To do it day in and day out, day in and night out – even during the night there is no let-up! You can imagine what it must be like without a break. But this is a laboratory where there will always be a lot of smoke and fire; it has to, otherwise where will there be any transformation and sincere looking at oneself? People are not used to looking at themselves, they are always looking out. So this is our job: to get you to look at yourself.

I remember Pb.’s look of astonishment first time in Panchmadhi when I talked about being self-critical. That was a shocker to him, although even the Acharya was talking about looking at oneself, being a mirror to the other. The problem was they were being a mirror to the other always but were never being a mirror to themselves. (Laughing) Expression was given the maximum importance, whatever you felt like you could express, and in that it was mainly showing the mirror to the other and if anybody else showed you the mirror you did not like it, least of all looking at yourself in the mirror.

But sadhana requires that kind of work, so I have to do it continuously, constantly, and you all do it to each other anyway. That is why you all get into these moments of personality clashes. This is happening all the time, it is the situation anywhere and everywhere, but in other places you can always avoid, you can always divert yourself or go elsewhere. Of course we can see how we can make it easier for ourselves, but the work will have to be done whichever way you look at it. And I do not compromise with it.

It is very easy being here, it is just that it is hard being with yourselves and with each other, that is the thing! So you need a little sense of humour. There might be fire, it is fine, you have a fire going on, everyone can jump into it, feel the heat and see if you can laugh a little while you are burning. (Laughing) You have to develop humour in adverse circumstances, when you are burning and getting cooked. It is difficult but it is quite a skill if you can manage it. And you have to objectify even in those moments, and see the benefit from it; try to see the Truth in it. That is very important, that is why you have to be objective, otherwise your ego is hurting at that time and you do not want to accept, you just do not want to accept. That is the nature of the vital consciousness. There will always be pressure here to change, to look at things more closely; otherwise you are only living on the surface and your being here is a waste of time. It is not going to be comfortable. It can be comfortable and it is comfortable at times, it is not that it is all the time uncomfortable or you would never survive. You haven’t developed that kind of forbearance that you can bear the uncomfortable all the time.

Everything was going well till R. came. You saw when he was sitting there he felt very impressed with himself. He said, “I am starting some fire here.” He was very happy at that time as long as the fire was burning someone else. (Laughing) I said, “You have to be very careful.” I was warning him, watch out there is Mars in Aries here; the energy here can be explosive and it can burn you back. He didn’t listen so he got burnt and left.

My force is here and it will bring up everything in you – fire and brimstone. In sadhana the force will charge up your vitality, it will raise your energy. There will be clashes, conflicts. How do you work in those circumstances? How can you make room for the Truth in those circumstances? The thing is to go beyond the ego, for ultimately we are one, as it is one Reality. So we can look at the other, even if the other is being unreasonable. How to make the other look at himself or herself and understand the situation is one of those things, and there may be a moment when things may seemingly get out of hand, but you can always bring the hand back! (Laughing) These are called ‘encounters’, ask Pb. From where he comes they used to have encounter groups, here it is all continuous and part of your daily living, it is integrated into your daily activity.

Pb.: And you are not charged for it!

This is very gentle compared to that and there you paid for the therapies while you broke each other’s bones. So here we are very charitable! (Laughing) If you need therapy it means there is something wrong with you. There is something that needs to be worked with, so you pay. That was the Acharya’s understanding. You have to pay for the therapy as it is you who are responsible for having developed your personality problems. Meditation was free but if you want therapy you have to pay. Here the therapy is free but it happens most unexpectedly as a part of your daily living, so it takes you by surprise. There one knew beforehand that it was therapy and so was prepared for it. Here it is the surprise and shock part of the daily activity, but only then can the transformation come. It is important with therapies that there is a continuous understanding of them, post therapy, post events and situations to understand them more deeply so that you do not make it a personality fixation. Ultimately you have to look at yourself, understand and come to the Truth. That is the objective and we continue therefore to be in communication with each other. We may have our moments in which there may be friction… fine, work it out, it is ok, and ultimately a sense of oneness must follow by trying to understand the other. Sometimes it may not be easy, for sure, depending on how deeply rooted certain personalities are. And you can find how personalities can be irrational even though mental. So this has to be looked into. Every individual has their work cut out.

Even Jesus said, “I have not come to bring peace unto this world, I have come to bring fire unto this world.” A fire – for the Master’s presence will bring up things in you, he will start cooking you as it were, so you have to look at yourself, you have to be honest with yourself. If you are not honest you will continue to perpetuate the same flaw and you will not grow. That is why honesty is very important and that honesty will benefit you and therefore the community. How will this community grow in harmony otherwise? It does not matter on the numbers whether few or thousands, this is the future of human society. It is not just about giving space or room to the other or staying away from each other, ultimately you should be able to manage any and every situation. So the agenda is very immense, it looks simple, but that is why it is a progressive commitment. You have to commit yourself progressively. Initial setbacks and reactions will follow, and suggestions like: ‘I want to go away, I do not fit here!’ It comes to almost everyone: this is human nature and universal human truth. Even in that we can see ourselves. Even in the other we see ourselves. When we start to do that we become understanding of the other and the Truth. And that is universal and that is so at all times. This was so in the past, this is so in the present, and it will be so in the future also. So I continue to remind you of it.

At one time I lived so independently that people could not be with me, but now I have consciously decided to be with the people whatever the circumstance, as a Teacher, as a Guru. It is sanctioned, otherwise it is not in my nature. I am a loner, I have lived alone, and I did not need to be with anyone. I do not pamper. I am straight and blunt. I am not to receive from you; you are to receive from me. This has to be understood, this is a primary understanding. This is what I was trying to explain in the last few days and I have been explaining since the past. When you want to learn you have to have the right attitude, you have to open yourself to me if you accept me, otherwise it is baseless to be here. So this is something you have to consciously develop. It does not mean we cannot have a dialogue, we cannot have a debate, we cannot have questions, rather I have always encouraged it. But you must be honest and open. It will take some time, it is not that you are being dishonest it is just that some clarity has to come; sometimes it is because one is unclear. That is why you have to look deeply into yourself. You may have your outbursts, then take your time and look into it, look at the outburst you have had, look at the whole situation, maybe you will find some space somewhere. Take some time and just look at yourself, look at the whole situation and you will see a lot of things get worked out and clarity comes. Otherwise there is no solution if you just keep on habitually reacting negatively with outbursts to events and situations and people. That is the lesson you have to learn from the last few days.

I will not pamper you; I can offer my affection, I can offer my compassion, but I will not pamper you. There is a difference, pampering spoils the children. It is tampering with them, and I do not tamper, I never err on that side, I may err on the other (laughing), but I will not err in pampering and I do not know how to do it. No Guru will pamper you; a real Guru will never pamper you. It may be that you may find it a little difficult to understand what we are trying to say at times and from where we are coming, that is understandable. It will take you time before you understand where I am coming from, what is the Force behind me, why I am speaking in a particular way. Sometimes I will even provoke you, I will take a contradicting stand because I want you to look at yourself when you react. Another moment and I will speak completely in the opposite way. It is all good for you and you have to realise that because it is you who will benefit from it. That is why I say I will not pamper you, no Guru can afford to pamper.

Throughout history, if you look, this has been the case. You will see that no Teacher has ever pampered his or her disciples. If you read stories from the past, whether they are old or new it does not matter, the Truth remains. Whatever is the implication and the essence of the story, that is the Truth. It is not whether it happened in the past, in terms of time and era and age. If there is a Truth there that Truth is valid even now. It is just that you may be brought to that Truth in a different way, maybe using different techniques or different symbolisms. Even in the case of each individual the Teacher may work in different ways at different times, not to mention that the Teacher may work in one way with someone and with the other in an opposite way.

There is the story of Ramakrishna and his two disciples of two different natures. The story shows how He was developing their nature, how he was mellowing one person’s nature and how he was strengthening the other person’s nature in the same situation. Ramakrishna’s place was on the banks of the Ganga, just like ours, but in Dakshineshwar, Bengal. People used to visit Him daily and so also his disciples, many of whom were young boys who lived in the main city on the other side of the Ganga, in Kolkata. They used to come by boat. There the Ganga is very huge, they even have steamers. One day Niranjan, a young disciple of His, was on the boat with some people who were going to the Mother Kâlî temple. Some of them started to criticise Ramakrishna. Niranjan, who was of a very strong temperament, could not tolerate that and got very upset. He was ready to beat them all up and threatened to drown them right there and then in the middle of the Ganga. He loved and respected his Guru so much that he was ready to kill all of them by sinking the boat and drowning the people in it and started to rock the boat. The people when they saw him in that mood got very frightened and started to touch his feet and beg forgiveness. This managed to pacify him. Afterwards when he entered Ramakrishna’s room and presence, Ramakrishna who knew what had happened, for he could see into time, spoke to him, “Niranjan, what is this? Just because some people criticised me a little you were ready to kill them?” He therefore tempered him down.

Again the same situation happened to another disciple of His whose name was Jogin. He was of a very meek, mild and weak temperament. One day while on the boat to Dakshineshwar to visit Ramakrishna he found himself in the same situation as Niranjan with people criticising Ramakrishna. This frightened the fellow and made him cower in the corner without doing or saying anything. He could not respond and did not respond, rather he wanted to desperately get out of the boat to avoid the situation and the people who were making merry criticising Ramakrishna. It was of course painful to him but he could not do anything about it. Afterwards when he entered Ramakrishna’s room and presence, rather sheepishly I must say, Ramakrishna spoke to him, “What is this, Jogin? People are criticising me and you do not even say one word for me?” In that way He was asking him to be stronger. So two different suggestions to two different people with different temperaments in the same situation.

This is one of the things that the Guru does – balance people’s temperaments and personalities. Today there is the wrong notion about enlightenment: that it requires no effort from oneself, rather it is to be achieved by plonking oneself physically in front of a Master and enjoying his presence and energy. Maybe just do some technique here and there and have some wonderful space – you do not have to do anything else. This notion is very naive and childish. Rather you have to work hard with yourself and consider it a great blessedness that you have found the Teacher who will guide you through your journey. This is considered to be like being gifted with the ultimate gift – then how much you make of it by working with yourself honestly and committing yourself to it, that much you will benefit. And at times, nay, most times initially, again different with different seekers, you might not have the depth to understand this. Many types of people come, some just with curiosity, just with this idea: ‘Oh, enlightenment! I want to have it too,’ as if it is a cup of coffee, without any notion or understanding of what it is, what it means and what it entails. That is why when people started to accumulate around me, I was talking about the guru supermarket, a big marketplace you go to with many shops where you enter this shop or that, where there is the so-called shopkeeper guru and somehow you will manage to get this enlightenment.

It is not like this here for sure. Our agenda is very huge, immense. It may look very simple from the outside. It is not by the number of people that you should evaluate, it is the quality of work that matters. And if you really look deep into or even get into stories of Teachers and Masters from the past, you will see how much commitment is required. You cannot think that it is old and that kind of commitment was only required in the past. That is nonsense because human nature was no different in the past from what it is now, in fact it was more conducive in the past. And anyway you have to deal with the entire nature and consciousness. There may seem differences in the outside, like for example the whirling in the Sufi tradition, but ultimately you have to get to the centre, your centre: whether you do it through one technique or another makes little difference. Techniques are only the means but the reach and objective may differ depending on the experience and realisation of the Master of the time. That is why I was discussing the other day about Buddha and Jesus. Why are they saying two different things?

Buddha is an atheist, Jesus is theist. For the Buddha there is no soul and no God but for Christ they both are very real. If the Truth is one, so to speak, then they should both have the same experience and realisation of the Truth. I am not saying it is not one, but one meaning what? Your mind does not have the capacity to comprehend what this means. It requires a different kind of mind, a more comprehensive mind to understand this, so the Teacher or Master will bring you to it, though not all teachers can do that. So if you were with a Buddhist teacher he would tell you Buddha is the ultimate. For those who take to Christianity, Jesus is the ultimate. But it seems like they had two different experiences of the Truth. One seems to personalise the Reality as God, the other one is totally impersonal and nirvanic. According to Jesus, God is the Father, someone very personal; according to Buddha there is no such thing – only a beginningless and endless self-annihilation in nirvâṇa. So why this difference? Were they experiencing two different realities or two different sides of the same Reality? If it is one Reality can it be both impersonal and personal at the same time? That is the question. Otherwise they seem to contradict each other, that is how it seems. We do not want to leave anything to chance so we discuss this to know the full Truth.

But for you to experience that, yes, you need to work with yourself – sadhana. You need to have that kind of mind which is open; you will have to leave your old mind behind. That is what the Master will do. You may want to pamper your old personality and your old ways of thinking but the Guru will not. You have come with a baggage. Every one of you has come with a baggage: the baggage of yourself, how you look at yourself, your personality, the way of thinking, your mind, your body, everything. In that baggage something will have to be discarded, some new things may have to be added, some things you may have to change, but if you hold on to them strongly it will become a needless struggle and a loss of time and energy. It is understandable that it is not easy to let go of old entrenched habits and behaviour patterns but it has to be done. There is no choice other than to give up your sadhana.

The Teacher, the Guru tries in many ways, with different people in different ways, and with the same person in different ways at different times. He is always spontaneous in that way, he has the capability to be spontaneous. That is why they give so much importance to the Master, the Guru. They go so far as to say, ‘Without the Guide you cannot reach.’ That is why Christ says, “I am the Way.” It does not mean He is saying, ‘I am the only Way,’ this is what the Church and Christianity finally made it out to be, to have a monopoly over God. That was their conceit. There have been guides, gurus and prophets before Jesus and there have been after and there will continue to be. He says, “I am the Way,” and it is true. Every Teacher can say, ‘I am the way for you.’ Then again depending on the realisation of the Master, the ways will differ from one another. And it is also true that progressively Teachers can come who will manifest a greater manifestation, a more comprehensive understanding and on that basis we were discussing the Gîtâ, the Bible and the Koran, Rama, Krishna, Jesus and the Buddha. That is why I say, Krishna is more complete than Buddha and Jesus therefore when he gives a teaching it will also be accordingly more complete and reflect what he himself is. But ultimately you are the complete book that needs to be studied while you continue to study the different teachings. You cannot do it all by yourself so you need help, support and guidance from a pathfinder but even though you may understand this at one level, at another level you may continue to resist to your own detriment until all the resistance from the old edifice is broken down and the new conducive one emerges. A lot of times you will observe yourself and see that at one level you understand while at another level you do not want to agree. That is the ego that needs to be looked at very closely. And for the seeker, the sadhak, that is the commitment which is required: to accept that this needs to be altered.

In the mundane existence in the world it is not always so required, you can get away without doing anything about it. That kind of existence we do not seek to maintain; we want a different existence, otherwise you will not get anywhere and even if you can manage to get somewhere it will limit you finally. I give a lot of importance to that, so that the foundation is laid, a proper foundation. If you want to build a strong house your foundation has to be strong. With a weak foundation you may manage something but it is fragile and one day it will fall when tested. Many times people think, ‘Why do we need to do this? Why all this hard work? We can just sit and get to enlightenment.’ That is how people today look at the Buddha. Everybody wants to be the Buddha, but do you know what Buddha is as a person? Buddha became Buddha because of what he was as a person first. If you look throughout history, if you look at every one of them, they are all so different, they behave so differently even though they are considered to be Masters, enlightened people, God-realised, self-realised. Two examples from the past I have given you, two shining examples so to speak, Buddha and Christ who are so different from each other. Then look at Krishnamurti and the Acharya, they seem almost contradicting each other. Look at Ramakrishna, Ramana Maharshi, look at Aurobindo, look at Shivapuri Baba, why are they different? Certainly if you have the same Truth everybody should be clones to each other! That is why I used to make a lot of fun at your expense in the past, “You go up as Krishnamurti and come down as the Acharya,” God forbid!

It can never be. Your personality development, your mental formulation, your emotive expressions, have been built over lifetimes. You experience many kinds of spaces, and that is why it requires so much objectivity, so much honesty, otherwise you will distort things. Your personality will distort the Truth, and if you are seeking for the awakening of the Kundalini you better watch out, it can also destroy you. This is the Truth. That is why when I read about so-called gurus going around professing to awaken the Kundalini by just a few courses here and there, and talking about kundalini yoga as if it was some kind of candy you dish out to children, I put big question marks on such people. If by chance it awakens in you and you are not prepared, watch out, you will know it for sure. I am not going to be there to help you because if you have not taken the responsibility and followed my instructions I am not going to take responsibility. This is not a game; it deals with such forces you cannot even imagine. You cannot even handle your daily life at times, a little emotional difficulty and you see how difficult it becomes. And the Kundalini? It will enhance and intensify those difficult moments so strongly as if you were sitting on fire twenty-four hours. You need mental strength, you need mental honesty – you need emotional strength, you need emotional honesty – and you need your sexual fluid, otherwise it will destroy you. You will see, it is a very fine line between perversion and what is considered normal even though you have the awakening of the force. It enhances and intensifies everything; it can turn you into a megalomaniac. All of a sudden you may feel: ‘I am god…’ There have been gurus who began like this, who have the sudden awakening with not enough preparation, and they suddenly feel, because of the intensity: ‘Wow, I am the ultimate answer and god of all things.’ We have many recent examples of megalomaniac gurus. Then you will have to suffer, work it out through difficult moments. That is why I have to warn you: that is my job, it is not a game. I have known somebody who jumped off the top floor of a building because he had this awakening without being prepared for it. He could not handle it. When it goes up you feel suddenly open, wide, you start to experience great elation. It is like people on an acid trip for the first time and they go ‘wow’ and when they come down suddenly there is this coming back to normal life and all seems as it was before if not more difficult. This contrast was too much for him. It made him very depressed. That is why you need to do a lot of work with your personality, your lower nature and your ego.

That is why I cannot pamper your ego even if it makes me unpopular, for I have a job to do. If you want this you have to be honest with it. If you want to kill yourself fine, you can kill yourself somewhere else. I have to give you the true understanding. That is why I am not the type to pamper you. You better prepare yourself if you want this. That is why I have said from the beginning this is not easy and yet this is your ultimate journey, there is no other journey. The rest is all ignorance; it is all a diversion from the Truth. And it can be easy if you just decide, you must decide. That decision is yours, you must decide: ‘Yes, I want to do this.’ Be courageous, be brave: ‘I want this!’ That is important, you cannot live in limbo.

Although there have been many for whom the whole affair was a pleasant and superlative experience from the very beginning, there have been also people like Dr Goyel who had a lot of trouble when unwittingly the force awakened in him and so was the case with Gopi Krishna, a Kashmiri pundit, who used to feel he was going insane. If you read their stories of the awakening they wanted it to stop because they were having so much trouble, it became unbearable. In the end, when they did work it out, of course they felt themselves to be truly blessed, but during the troubles they wanted nothing of it. And it was not one day or two days, it was every day for months, years. It can be and should be an easy journey but an intense one if you allow the Guru to work with you, but if you carry on as your old self you will create a troubling situation for yourself. To have a Guide saves you a lot of troubles and even risky situations. Both had no Guru and were desperate for one during their troubles. You are fortunate you have somebody to guide you and so can prepare yourself before it starts and be guided through the journey. You start to live many lifetimes in one life and it can be very intense. That which you would live in a hundred lifetimes, or in a thousand, you start to live in one lifetime – you can imagine the intensity. And if there has been a distortion or perversion in your personality it will get even more enhanced and it will work against you. Your fears and anxieties and depressions will come up very strongly. So you need to work with all parts of yourself. If you can work it out beforehand, if you have become good with it then when the process awakens you know what to do and you will save yourself a lot of trouble and that is why I said it requires honesty, sincerity, commitment and hard work. That is why many people do not want this kind of sadhana when they are told how much hard work is required and the risks that are involved and the old habits, things and old ways of living that one has to be ready to give up or change. It is difficult if you make it difficult, it is easy if you make it easy, it is as simple as that. It is the way you approach your sadhana, your attitude. If you give what you call the difficult moment undue and absolute importance then it becomes difficult. If instead you are objective with it and see these moments as something you have to pass through and not give it the importance it does not deserve, it becomes easier. Really you make too much of it. Words like ‘crisis’ I started to hear and know about only after you guys came. Such words never existed for me while for you every moment is a crisis or one waiting to happen. ‘I am in a crisis,’ says someone. ‘What happened?’ ‘I have to do my laundry!’ (Everyone laughing) ‘I am in a crisis.’ My God, what happened? Did the sky come down and the earth split wide open, and all of us are going to be swallowed inside? (Jokingly) I have to be a little Italian also; I have to learn the ‘crisis’ dramatics from the Italians. I am still learning, you are all my gurus in that way. With so many Italians I have lost my English anyway, now I have to learn theatrics! Why do you think I make you laugh so much? Why do I give so much importance to the sense of humour? Because you need to maintain cheerfulness in this journey. Depressions should not be allowed, you should not make things more difficult than they already are! (Laughing) Sense of humour is important, but you guys hardly have any. You mostly tend to ridicule. I also use the humour of ridicule, especially with Pb. for him to look at his ego which ends up needling and irritating him. But I have to work quickly with him because he does not have much time if he wants to come back happier next time, otherwise I will be working next time with the same man, same thing! God forbid! (Everyone laughing)

You see, once you take this contract it is not a one-life contract and that is something I did not realise! (Laughing) That is where I was a little ‘unenlightened’! And I did not choose the types! There I was a bit Jesus-like: a big charitable heart! “Father, do Thy will. You make the contract and You choose the people.” When I go up I am going to tell Him, “Padre, what have you done? What kind of ‘hombres’ have you given me?” He makes things so difficult for us! If it collapses I would have the excuse to live gypsy-like again. So be prepared to beg for your food! I know there would be people dropping out every day. You guys do not realise that many of you are here because we have this place, if we had to walk around begging for food, I would have people dropping out every day. But you never think about such practicalities! I never wanted this job and Pb. knows that. I used to say first time in Panchmadhi that I am a ‘reluctant messiah’, I do not know if he remembers.

Pb.: He did not even want to be called a Master.

Yes, I was such a nice other-worldly guy, now I am a little controversial because I had a lot of ‘controversial’ characters coming from Pune. I had to mimic these guys to find a way out for them so I had to do my bit of drama and later return to my ‘nice fellow’ being. That I keep in the background now, when I am alone once again it will be back. Vivekananda used to say, “I changed my temperament to suit the time and the people.” He did not like it but he had to in order to work with the types of people that came to him, especially because he had to go to the West he had to take on their temperament and for that charitable act he had to receive a lot of criticism.

Can you read the sentence of the day once more?

(C. repeats the sentence): ‘The Master is not here to pamper you. He is here to bring you to liberation from your own self, which can become your enemy, from your own pettiness.’

There is a story of Lord Vishnu, God, as the boar incarnation, the varâha incarnation, one of the evolutionary incarnations when God took to the form of the pig, the boar. The earth had been carried down into the nether dark regions by two demons, Hiranyaksha and Hiranyakashipu. So God took the form of the boar and went down into the nether regions and lifted the earth back up and out of the darkness on his tusks. Afterwards he got so identified with his body, with being a pig, that he even had children and forgot who he truly was – that he was God of heaven, God of the whole creation, but instead he started to behave like a boar and he took that very seriously. The other gods, the lesser gods, seeing this situation were very unhappy, they were very worried because if God had forgotten who he truly was and knew not his place at the head of all things and beings, then it would create chaos. They came down to earth and tried to remind him, “You know, you are Vishnu, you are God, you are the ultimate God.” Much to their chagrin, he refused to believe that, for he was so identified with being a pig, “No way,” he said, “I am a pig and these are my children.” The gods were very worried and sought the help of Lord Shiva who is the Master of meditation and Yoga. He agreed to help them, and taking up his trident killed the pig. Then out from the pig-body emerged God, the true being, the true identity, and laughing he ascended to heaven, his true abode. This is the situation with everybody. You get so identified with one thing, one moment, one feeling, one emotion, one thought and one idea that that becomes the whole thing. It gets very serious for you: crisis, depression, conflict, fire and brimstone. This is what the story is saying, that this is what happens to God which we potentially are. Really that God, the true being in each one of us has been caught up with all sorts of ideas and identifications in such a severe manner, it continues to live thinking this is all there is to one’s life, through wrong identification. So then Shiva, the Guru, has to kill the proverbial pig of wrong identification and liberate the true being and identity. And so God Vishnu leaves laughing for his true abode, otherwise he was living the ignorance of life and its sufferings, taking care of the small piglets who would grow up only to end up as pork sausages on C.’s table!

Arya Vihar

26 Aug 2009