Free will or God's will

 

Are we free to do whatever we want? Do we have free will? It appears so. The entire structure of our society is based on people having free will. Judiciary works on the belief that people commit crimes willfully and hence deserve punishment. Companies can sell their products on the premise that people are free to buy what they want. We make plans assuming our free will.

Robert Sapolsky in his thought-provoking book “Determined” starts with a humorous story: A Professor was teaching a class the science of planetary movement around the sun. A girl student objected, “Professor, it is not so. The earth is resting on a turtle.” The Professor asked, “And, on what the turtle is resting?” The girl replied, “on another turtle.” The Professor again asked, “And, on what the other turtle resting?” The girl snapped, “No use Professor, it is turtle all the way down.”

Robert Sapolsky argues that free will is an illusion – all human behavior stems from nuero-biological, environment and cultural factors which we don’t control. The entire universe is governed by the Law of Causation. Everything that happens is caused by something before it. And, what we do today becomes the cause of future happenings. What we think of doing as our free will is indeed caused by an unending series of causes preceding that action (turtles all the way). We can investigate this in our own day-to-day living.

We first get a thought and then do the action. Can we know our next thought before it occurs? Scientific experiments have proven that we become aware of a thought a few seconds after it has occurred. So, we don’t know what thought will occur to us in the next moment. In his book, Robert has proved through a number of experiments and case studies that a thought results from our deep-rooted nuero-biological makeup and cultural influences, which dates back to millions of years – perhaps the beginning of mankind.

We may argue that we do have free will because we may choose to do one thing or the other at any given moment. Here again, Robert refers to an experiment where a machine hooked on brain/neurons can very accurately predict which option we will choose a few seconds before we exercise the choice.

If all of this is true, are we living robots guided by the past? Is there any joy in living like this?

Robert suggests, “It is often helpful to act as if you have free will: consider all of your options and think deeply when you can, but do not be too hard on yourself because it really could not have been any other way.”

Indian scriptures declare that there is a great joy in living as a mere instrument in the unseen hands of God. This universe is the playground of God. Everything in this playground is temporary and ever changing. Swami Sarvapriyanand suggests, “Live your life assuming free will, while carrying the belief that you are indeed executing God’s will.” We receive God’s will through our thoughts and results of our actions (whatever they may be) are God’s blessings for our own long-term benefits. This will free us from all the worries and miseries that arise from taking ownership of our actions. Buddha has famously said, “Things happen, deeds are done, but there is no doer thereof.”

Necessity of a Guru

This is an English translation (verbatim) of Osho's talk on "GURU", originally delivered in Hindi. It answers all questions that anyone may have on the necessity of a Guru and how to approach one.

It is long, but worth reading. At the end, I have tried to capture the essence in one page as bullet points list.

Bhagwan (Osho), please explain the meaning of the following song by Sant Daddu:

 "Gaib Mahi Gurudev Milya, Paya Ham Parsad,

[On the way met Gurudev, I received his blessing]

Mastak Mere Kar Dharya, Dekha Agam Agadh,

[On my head he placed his hand, I saw impenetrable bottomless]

Sataguru Sun Sahaje Milya, Liya Kantha Lagay,

[I met with Sataguru naturally, He embraced me with his throat]

Daya Bhali Dayal Ki, Tab Deepak Diya Jagay,

[It was a good grace for Dayal, Then lamp was lit]

Sataguru Maren Sabad Saun, Nirakhee Nirakhee Nij Thaur,

[Sataguru hit through words, By aiming at the source]

Ram Akela Rahi Gaya, Chit Na Awe Aur,

[Ram remained alone, Nothing else is felt]

Sabad Doodh, Ghrit Ram Ras, Koi Sadh Bilowan Har,

[Word is milk, Ram-juice is clarified butter, Rare one is able to churn]

Daddu Amrit Kadhi Le, Gurumukh Gahe Vichar,

[Daddu, extract the nectar, essence hidden in Guru's mouth]

Daibey Kinaka Dard Ka, Tuta Jodey Tar,

[Guru gives pain of Someone, Then joins the broken wire]

Daddu Sadhe Surati Ko, So Guru Peer Hamar,

[Daddu lost in the remembrance of God, That Guru is my divine teacher]

Sadaguru Miley To Paeeye, Bhakti Mukti Bhandar,

[When you meet with Sadaguru, Then you get the treasure of Devotion & Salvation]

Daddu Sahaje Dekhiye, Sahib Ka Deedar."

[Daddu, then you naturally see the vision of Lord]

 Bhagawan (Osho) replied as follows:

You are a treasure-box whose key is lost. Or, you are a seed that could not find its soil. Or, you are an emperor who has convinced himself to be a beggar. You are in deep sleep, and the possibility of your rising from it on your own is non-existent. Even if you wish to rise on your own, it is not going to happen. It is not going to happen, because how can one wake himself, when he is sleeping. To awaken someone, it is necessary to be awake first. If you, full of ego, think why should you take help from any one else to awaken you, you can at best dream that you have woken-up. A sleeping person can dream of waking-up. However, to break your slumber, an external agent is necessary, which can startle you, ring a bell. Guru is that external agent, nothing else.

Guru means the one who is already awake and who can bring you out of your deep slumber. Nothing else needs to be done. Nothing has to be received, as all that you need has always been with you. Nothing has to be lost too, except a long-drawn sleep, a coma, a swoon. So, a Guru does not lecture on your conduct (do’s and don’ts). If someone ask you to follow a certain set conduct, be ware of him. He can not be regarded a true Guru. Guru only gives you awakening and, once awake, whatever you do becomes your true conduct. For a sleeping person, these conducts mean nothing. Even if he follows them earnestly, they are all in the dream, like a bubble on the water. Whether you become a thief or a saint in the dream, what difference does it make? When you wake-up, you would find that neither the dream-thief nor the dream-saint was real. Therefore, the real question is not of becoming a saint from a thief, nor an honest from a liar, nor a good man from a bad man, but of waking-up from the sleep.

Conducts can be taken from the scriptures. Society also gives its conducts. It has to lay-down certain conducts for its masses, without which there would be a total chaos in the society. Family adds to these conducts. But, Guru alone gives awakening. If Guru also starts laying down only set of conducts, then rest assured that he has also become a part of the society and he has no connection with the ‘religion’. If he also starts telling you, “Don’t tell lies, don’t steal, etc.”, then their utility becomes virtuous, not religious.

There is a big difference between ‘virtue’ and ‘religion’. Virtues can be practised in the dream. You don’t need to wake-up. You only need to change your dream. Although changing dream is also not easy, yet it is possible while sleeping. If you are angry now, you could become peaceful. If you are lustful now you could take the vow of celibacy, etc. For any of these, you don’t need to wake-up. You remain where you are. Only, your outer shell is changed. You only change the clothes, not yourself. However, Guru is concerned with changing ‘you’. And when you are changed, certain conducts would arise from you. These conducts are not virtuous but religious. Virtuous conducts are like plastic flowers without fragrance, while religious conducts are ‘live’ flowers. Their roots are deep within the soil. They take food from the earth, light from the sun and freshness from the air. They are alive, not dead. A religious person becomes part and parcel of the entire cosmos, while a virtuous person lives within the periphery of his set conducts, cut-off from the cosmos. Therefore, it is possible for a virtuous person to be virtuous without searching for God, but a religious person cannot be religious unless he is in search of God.

From a distance, the plastic flower may look prettier than the real one. And, it is certain that the real flower will bloom by the dawn and collapse by the dusk. The plastic flower never collapses. It is very strong. If conduct were alive, it would change with time. If it is plastic, it never changes. False conduct has a kind of coherence, while there is a live revolution in true conduct. True conduct is like a water-stream, always flowing until it meets the sea. It changes its banks, mountains, bridges, people, everything else except its destination – sea. This is the only coherent factor in true conduct – its final goal. On the other hand, virtuous conduct is like a water-pond, which does not flow, does not go anywhere. It only rots in itself.

Therefore, be prepared for the complete change. Don’t give up until you transform this mortal life into immortal being, until you discover that treasure which would never be empty no matter how much you spend. And this will happen only when some one attacks your deep slumber from outside, when your individuality is totally killed. Then alone, that eternal sound will spring forth from within.

Daddu is talking about this wonderful ‘story’. Every word requires reflection and deep contemplation.

Gaib Mahi Gurudev Milya, Paya Ham Parsad,

[On the way met Gurudev, I received his blessing]

‘Gaib’ means ‘on the way’ but ‘without difficulty, all on a sudden’. You always meet your Guru suddenly, without any search. How would you search for a Guru? If you had any talent to search for Guru, you might as well have searched your real identity yourself. If you were so awake as to recognise your Guru; you could have recognised yourself with that much awakening. There was no need for a Guru at all. You cannot search for Guru. How would a sleeping person search for that person who would wake him up? ‘Suddenly’ also means that you are not aware of the moment when you meet with your Guru. Indeed, when the disciple is ready, Guru appears before him. It is not the disciple that looks for Guru, but the vice-versa. A disciple doesn’t go to Guru, he is drawn to Guru. Daddu is talking about this moment in the above line. He means, “I didn’t search for you. I had no talent to search. Even if I had found you I had no yardstick to judge you. Even if you had been standing before me, my eyes were closed. Even if you had embraced me, my heart was not beating. No, I didn’t find you, you found me.” Guru may not have taken even a step, while disciple may have walked thousand of miles, yet it is the Guru who finds disciple, not the vice-versa. 

However, the only thing that a disciple can do (and must do) is to remain available for his Guru’s call. When Guru calls, he should not pose any restrictions. That is enough. In Tibet, it is said that when a thousand is called, one reaches. It is also true, because the remaining 999 put-up all kinds of obstacles. They don’t want to go. When they are drawn, they feel like losing their freedom, their ego is hurt. Life is made-up of strange eternal laws. When something has to happen, it happens. When there is intense summer, it is always followed by heavy monsoon. Similarly, when you are tired of trials and tribulations in life, when your heart starts crying for help, when you are intensely burning from within, a piece of cloud suddenly comes towards you. That cloud is your Guru. 

The other meaning of ‘Gaib’ is ‘on the way’. You have to be on the way for Guru to find you. You have to put in some efforts in search of Guru, knowing fully well that all your efforts amount to groping in the darkness. But, only when you continue groping in darkness, Guru will catch you. This groping in darkness alone expresses your thirst for Guru. Even while you are sleeping, you change sides, thus expressing your desire to wake-up. 

One in many thousand of people in this world happens to find a Guru. And when you find one, you become different from the others. You no longer trade the highway, which the masses use. You start using a gravel-path, leading into forest towards unknown destination. You are under the spell of an unknown entity. For the masses, you become ‘dangerous’. They would stop you. They would advise you to remain on the highway, where the road is good and lined with milestones, indicating what would come next. Everyone is together – indicating security. They would scare you with questions like, what is the guarantee that your Guru would not misguide you, and so on. Therefore, holding Guru’s hand is the boldest step in this world (more than climbing Everest, more than landing on moon, because you are equipped with the contingency arrangements in these cases). There is no fallback arrangement with Guru. The only thing that supports you is your ‘Shradha’. That is why, only rare ones are able to find their Gurus and rarest few posses courage to consistently follow. 

In order to ‘save’ the potential disciples from their Gurus, society has created ‘fake’ gurus. They are part of the society. They don’t take you on the ‘gravel’ path. They follow the highway traded by the masses. Whether they are Christian bishops or Hindu monks or Muslim Mullahs, none of them could be regarded Guru. Mahavir was Guru and those who truly followed him must have been courageous few. But Jain saints are not gurus. In reality, they don’t lead their followers, but they follow their tyrants. They are dependent on their tyrants for physical survival. They are scared to displease them. They know that if they do anything against their so-called ‘followers’, they would withdraw their support. In this way, the followers are masters of such gurus. On the other hand, a true Guru is a revolutionary. He tends to antagonise society as he is in love with God. And, society is antagonistic with God; otherwise everyone in the society would have easily reached God. 

A true Guru takes you alone on the narrow path full of uncertainties. He does not talk much about the destination, nor shows you any map of the journey. Indeed, he repeatedly says that he would make you realise what he has himself realised, but cannot talk about that state in words because it is beyond any language of communication. You follow him only holding the thin thread of ‘Shradha’. After some time, even Guru would leave you alone, as his presence is also a hindrance to your union with God. 

So, being on the way simply means that you are yearning for help. You don’t know where to go, yet you sincerely want to go. You don’t know what to do, yet you are dying to do something. Only such a person could be taught. Only such a person can be awakened. 

Daddu further says, “What I got from Guru was his blessing (parsad), not any business transaction.” You don’t get blessing due to your talent but because the giver has so much that he wants to give you, whether or not you worked for it. If you get something due to your talent, then it would be regarded as your earnings, not blessing. Your earning is your right, you don’t have to even thank any one for that. But, blessing is not something for which you worked, as you didn’t know what and how to do to get it. You only had deep thirst for it. That was the only talent you had. Guru blesses because he is overflowing with love. He has too much to give. 

In Greece, there was a rich man who was making a house. He asked his manager to call some labours. They came and started working since morning. By mid-day, the rich man felt that the number of labours was inadequate to finish the work in time. So he asked his manager to get some more labours, who also joined the rest. After some time, he again felt that even this number was insufficient. He instructed to add more. But, by the time the manager brought the desired labours to the site, the day was over. All the labours (full day, half-day and those who just came and didn’t do any thing) assembled before him. The rich man paid them all equally. At this, those, who had been working since morning, complained about the injustice with them. He asked them if they had received money in accordance with their labour. They concurred. The rich man then suggested not to worry about what he is giving to the rest. To those who didn’t do any thing, he is giving because he has too much. In this story, those who worked since morning received their ‘wages’, while those who didn’t do any thing received that rich man’s blessing (parsad). 

In India, there are two types of cultures. One is that of Budhists / Jainis, which professes the importance of labour (Shraman) in the spiritual field. It says that you will get in accordance with your labour. The other is that of Hindus, which is based on the concept of blessing. According to them, no matter how much talent you possess or acquire, you can’t reach God through your ability. God is reached in form of blessing only. That does not mean that you don’t do anything. Of course, you must do all that you feel like doing to reach Him. But your ‘doing’ can not take you to God. Your ‘doing’ only increases your chances of receiving His blessings. Just as, in the above story, the evening labours’ mere coming increased their chances of receiving the rich man’s blessings. Those, who chose not to come, were denied his blessings. 

Those rare ones who realised God have declared thereafter that none of their ‘doings’ had any relationship with what they ultimately gained. How can any ‘ritual’, no matter how sincerely practised, be the adequate price for that priceless stage? All their ‘doings’, therefore, merely indicated their thirst for that stage, nothing more. Thus emerges seemingly contradictory conclusion, “God can not be realised by your efforts, yet without your effort you can’t reach Him.” Your efforts are no more than a spoon in which you want to fill the ocean. Your spoon only indicates your thirst. When the ocean falls upon you, you can’t claim that it happened because of the spoon. Indeed, at that moment, you would throw away the spoon. 

Guru is like that piece of cloud, which is loaded with water vapour and is wandering in search of acutely dry (hungry & thirsty) land, which may accept its payload. He is like that lamp, which is eager to light the darkness around, like that flower, which involuntarily spreads its fragrance. Whenever you have something in abundance, you want to share it with others. Only they can share who have. They who don’t give, indeed, have nothing. Only such people are misers who don’t have. It sounds like a riddle, but true. Those, who have something, know that they would increase their possession by giving, while the misers feel that their possession would reduce by giving. 

Another aspect of your qualification to receive Guru’s blessing is your being ‘empty’. In Sanskrit, qualification is called ‘Patrata’. It literally means an ‘empty pot’. Your qualification is not in gaining additional worldly knowledge, but in emptying what is already inside. When you become like an empty pot, free from all conditionings, Guru’s blessing (parsad) would be able to fill you. 

Mastak Mere Kar Dharya, Dekha Agam Agadh,

[On my head he placed his hand, I saw impenetrable bottomless] 

Daddu says, “Guru placed his hand on my head.” Hand can be placed only on that head, which is bent. Just as, the river is able to meet with sea only when it flows downward. It is the finding of the ‘east’ that a disciple must bend down to his Guru to receive any thing from him. Unless he bends, Guru will not be able to give him, even if he wishes to do so. Your ‘bending’ indicates your surrender, your emptiness, your acceptance to whatever Guru may give. If a mountain complains to river, “Why do you give all your water to the sea? Why not give some water to me also?” Then, river would say, “I am ready to give. But, you are so high that I can’t reach you.” There is a live stream of blessings flowing from Guru to his disciples. All you have to do is to bend down a little and fill your hands with this nectar. 

You may bend down once in a while. But that won’t help. The word ‘disciple’ means that you consistently maintain the state of surrender. When your head is bent, revolutionary incidents can take place in your life. 

There are seven energy centres (chakras) in your body. Normally, you live only in one centre – that of lust (Mooladhar), because nature operates through this centre alone to maintain the world. However, it is the lowest centre. It is like the porch of a mansion. Though it is part of the house and also very beautiful, it is not the place where you should permanently reside. The inside of the mansion is much more beautiful. And, in its innermost room resides God Himself. Don’t waste you life living in the porch. Enter the grand mansion within. 

Often, when your head is bent, your ego is still erect. Indeed, your ego sometimes gains strength by bending the head. You claim yourself to be the modest person on earth. But, when both your head and ego is bent and at that moment when Guru places his hand on your head, then something wonderful happens in your life. What you would not have been able to accomplish in several lives, happens in a moment. Your entire energy merges with that of Guru and starts moving upwards. Your seventh ‘chakra’ opens-up. And, then you are able to see impenetrable and bottomless. The same world no longer remains same for you. You begin to see God in everything everywhere. You see people, you see Him, wind touches you and His touch is felt, you close your eyes and only His vision comes forth. 

Sataguru Sun Sahaje Milya, Liya Kantha Lagay,

[I met with Sataguru naturally, He embraced me with his throat] 

The only way to meet with Guru is to remain natural. The more you are complicated, the more difficult would be meeting with Guru. You meet with Guru just as a child meets you. Leave behind all your ‘knowledge’ along with the shoes. Go to him with complete ignorance. This is a very big challenge because society has been teaching you otherwise all these years. You are taught to put-up a different face than what you actually are. You are told to smile, even when you are crying inside. You are told to welcome guest, even though you may not like it. All of this has complicated your nature. Your nature is no more natural. You can’t meet Guru with such a nature. With such conditioning you may come at best physically closer to Guru, but no where near his heart. On the other hand, you are closest to Guru if you are natural, though you may be physically thousand of miles away from him. 

Thus if you meet Guru naturally, he would embrace you with his throat. ‘Throat’ is the abode of the fifth centre (chakra) in your body. When this centre is awakened, even your prose becomes poetry. His voice attains a kind of sweetness. His silence carry eloquence and his dynamic expression carry shadows of silence. 

When your energy travels upward through different chakras one-by-one, you develop different, hitherto unknown, capacities. The second chakra is just below the belly button. When your energy rises above this centre, you lose ‘fear’. You become fearless. This centre is concerned with death. That is why, whenever you are scared, your stomach starts misbehaving. You feel a strong urge to visit toilet. Fearful person develops ulcers in his stomach. Once you cross this centre, you see eternity everywhere, not death. 

The third chakra is above the belly button. When your energy rises above this centre, you attain perfect balance. Normally, people live in extremities. You are either indulging in any thing deeply or refraining from it completely. You will meditate for a few hours at a stretch and then don’t even think of it for several days. Such extreme phenomena disappear from your life when you cross the third centre. 

The fourth chakra is on your heart. You develop the feeling of true love when your energy reaches this centre. Prior to this stage, you may have been talking about love but there was no feeling of love. What you felt as love was, indeed, a form of lust. You may have covered your feelings with nice words, but deep inside, it was your lust dancing nakedly. But when you bring your energy up to this centre, all feelings of lust leave you. 

The fifth chakra is at the throat. At this stage, you gain the capacity to declare ‘truth’. It is not necessary that any listener will also hear the truth. He will be able to hear the truth only when his fifth centre is also active. 

‘Guru embracing his disciple with his throat’ means the fifth centre is active in both the Guru as well as the disciple. Only then, whatever Guru tells will be understood clearly by the disciple. Otherwise, disciple will almost always misunderstand what the Guru tells. If your energy were still arrested at the first centre, whatever Guru tells, you would view it through your lustful attitude. Or, if it were at the second centre, you would approach Guru only when you are distressed. Even an atheist becomes a believer in God at the time of death due to the fear of death. However, when your energy has risen above the fifth centre, even if Guru does not tell anything, you would be able to hear whatever he wishes to communicate. Ramana Maharshi has been known to communicate through his silence. 

Daya Bhali Dayal Ki, Tab Deepak Diya Jagay,

[It was a good grace for Dayal, Then lamp was lit] 

‘Deepak’ refers to the sixth centre (chakra), which is also known as third eye located between the two eyebrows. Guru helps you in raising your energy level from fifth to the sixth centre. When this is lit, you are filled with divine light within. For such a person, there is no darkness anywhere. He revels in his own light. 

Sataguru Maren Sabad Saun, Nirakhee Nirakhee Nij Thaur,

[Sataguru hit through words, By aiming at the source]

Ram Akela Rahi Gaya, Chit Na Awe Aur,

[Ram remained alone, Nothing else is felt] 

Guru kills every thought of the disciple one-by-one through his words. Eventually, that moment of silence comes when you find nothing within except ‘Ram’. You take out one thorn with the help of another thorn. However, when the thorn embedded in your body is taken out, you don’t preserve the second thorn as it helped you. That will be foolishness and detrimental. You must throw away the second thorn too with the first one. Guru’s words are like thorns. They are meant to annihilate the thoughts crowding your head. Don’t make the mistake of replacing your thoughts with those of Guru and carrying on in life with those new found thoughts. You must dispense with all the thoughts, however valuable they may have been for you in the past. 

In this process, Guru would systematically attack your preconceived notions and principles, which you had been holding dearer than your life. History is witness to massive killings just for the sake of certain ‘words’. If someone abuses ‘Gita’, you are prepared to kill him. Thus, you are prepared to kill ‘Ram’ at the cost of saving ‘words’. This is the grandest surgery on you that is performed by the Guru. You should be prepared to die at his hands with ‘Shradha’, just as you surrender yourself to a well-qualified medical surgeon. This may cause terrible disturbance in you. If you get perplexed and run away, you would miss the golden opportunity of finding ‘yourself’. You should be prepared to dispense with everything, including scriptures. The objective is to kill everything in you except ‘that’ which cannot be killed. Unless this happens, your ‘Ram’ would remain shrouded under thick layers of a variety of thoughts. 

Sabad Doodh, Ghrit Ram Ras, Koi Sadh Bilowan Har,

[Word is milk, Ram-juice is clarified butter, Rare one is able to churn]

Daddu Amrit Kadhi Le, Gurumukh Gahe Vichar,

[Daddu, extract the nectar, essence hidden in Guru's mouth] 

What Guru says is ‘milk’. No doubt, it is good, but do not be satisfied with it. Reflect & contemplate upon Guru’s words. Live with these words, until you extract the hidden essence. Just as you extract clarified butter from the milk. Many take away milk, but only few know the process of extracting butter and rare ones actually extract the hidden butter and turn it into clarified butter. 

There are radical differences between ‘milk’ and ‘clarified butter’. Milk is good today, spoiled tomorrow. But, clarified butter never gets spoiled. Indeed, as the time passes, its value increases. Similarly, words are fresh when you first hear them. But, soon they would lose this freshness. If you had been simply collecting words, they would soon start rotting in you. You would go berserk. Those who simply saved scriptures saved milk. Guru’s every word contains eternal truth. You got to find it by delving deep within the silence between the two words. 

Through words, Guru is not trying to pass on any principles to you, but perfection in you. He is not trying to give you any notion, but make you notion-free. He is not trying to show you the path, but the destination. Only an earnest disciple can find such essence hidden in Guru’s words. It is not necessary to remember every word of Guru, if you have understood the essence. You remember something only because you have not understood it. That, which has been understood, became part and parcel of your personality. For you now these words are like empty shells, having delivered their payloads. They can simply be discarded. 

In a rose tree, when flowers bloom, the entire energy of the tree gets concentrated in a few flowers. Then, from hundreds of flowers you extract spoon-full of essence. Similarly, words could be many, but their essence is very brief. 

Daibey Kinaka Dard Ka, Tuta Jodey Tar,

[Guru gives pain of Someone, Then joins the broken wire]

Daddu Sadhe Surati Ko, So Guru Peer Hamar,

[Daddu lost in the remembrance of God, That Guru is my divine teacher] 

Guru will first give you pain. He will make you feel uncomfortable in your present life-style. Indeed, you may even curse yourself for having come in his contact. He will generate an unbearable thirst for God in you. You would feel like a fish outside the water. This pain is necessary for deepening your search. Such suffering has been termed as the pain of separation. Mirabai sang songs while deeply immersed in such pain. 

This pain enables you to see what is lacking in you. Otherwise, how would you even acknowledge the possibility of any incompleteness in you? With this pain, you begin to see from where you have been separated. Then, Guru helps in establishing connection between you and your eternal being. Because of this pain, you allow Guru to make connection. When this pain reaches its peak, your suffering converts into yoga, your calling opens the gate to salvation. 

‘Surati’ means remembrance. It means, whom you don’t have to remember, but He is always in your memory. Lord’s remembrance becomes so acute in your mind that you are all the time lost in it. He resides in every breath of yours. Physically you are in the world, but mentally far beyond it. All your worldly actions become divine. Your eating, talking, sleeping – everything carries a continuous ‘shruti’ in the background. Once, a great saint, Rabia was asked by Hasan, “When do you remember God?” Rabia replied, “I don’t remember Him at all. He is all the time with me. Indeed, I want to get rid of his remembrance. It is very painful.” The only way to get rid of this pain (his remembrance) is to completely lose yourself, become God Himself. That’s when fish is united with the water. Then, neither the person remembering nor the person remembered remains. They both become one. He is Guru, who makes this happen in your life. 

Sadaguru Miley To Paeeye, Bhakti Mukti Bhandar,

[When you meet with Sadaguru, Then you get the treasure of Devotion & Salvation]

Daddu Sahaje Dekhiye, Sahib Ka Deedar."

[Daddu, then you naturally see the vision of Lord] 

The above phenomenon is possible only when you get ‘sadaguru’. Even those who reached this stage apparently without a Guru, in reality must have been blessed by some Guru sometime during their journeys. Krishnamurthy says that you don’t need a Guru. He is right from his standpoint. Indeed, after gaining your real identity, you realise that you were always That. All you needed was to become aware of It. Nothing more. So simple. Why do you need any help at all? 

Once, in a factory, machines stopped running. An expert was called. The factory remained shut for seven days and suffered a loss of millions. When the expert arrived, he simply took out a screwdriver and tightened a loose screw. He submitted a bill of Rs. 10,000. The owner showed his surprise, “Such a huge bill for such a small job? Anyone, even a child, could have tightened this screw.” The expert replied, “Then, why it was not done before my arrival? The charge for tightening the screw is only Rs.1, while the remaining charge is to know which one out of the million screws need tightening.”

Similarly, Guru is absolutely necessary. Just because you don’t need a Guru after your realisation, don’t tell this to the ignorant masses, which still need Guru. If, by chance, they were convinced that they don’t need to seek any external help, then they would not reach anywhere. And, it is very easy to have this conviction, as it satisfies your ego. Hence, whatever Krishnamurthy is saying is right, but those, who heard him thus, have suffered great losses. Indeed, it was far better if he had not spoken at all. 

All religions agree on one point – God gave out Himself the first religious knowledge. Hindus say that Vedas emanated from His mouth. Muslims say that Koran was given by Him. Christians say that Bible contains His words that flowed from the mouth of Jesus. This means that God Himself was the first Guru. When everybody was sleeping, He must have awakened one person and this started the chain reaction commonly called, “Guru-Shishya Parampara”. God, in this context, is one who is already awake. 

Daddu says that when the disciple gets treasure of devotion, he does not care any more about his salvation. When you say, “I want to get salvation, I want to be absolutely free,” there is a possibility of “I” remaining behind. Duality may still persist. True salvation may still elude you. On the other hand, salvation is inherent in true devotion. The moment a devotee sincerely surrenders at Lord’s feet, is the moment of salvation. At that moment, you see Him everywhere – within as well as without. When only He remains, where is the person desiring liberation and from what would he liberate? At this stage, even if you are apparently tangled with something in the world, you are not in a hurry to breakaway from it. You accept that binding also as God’s wish. A devotee’s journey is unique. He, who desired salvation without devotion, fed only his ego. He, who saw salvation in devotion, attained salvation.

SUMMARY

·       When you are asleep, you need the help of someone who is already awake.

·    Guru is that external agent that awakens you from your long sleep. He does not set any code of conduct for you.

·       The focus is not on becoming virtuous, but on waking-up.

·       When you are awake, whatever you do becomes your true & religious code of conduct.

·       You don’t have any talent to search for Guru. He comes to you on his own all on a sudden. All you need to do is keep yourself available, don’t put-up restrictions upon hearing his call.

·       Although none of your efforts is responsible for your meeting with Guru, you must keep searching. Your constant search is mere indication of your intense desire to meet with Guru. When this thirst becomes acute, Guru appears before you.

·    While holding Guru’s hand, maintain ‘shradha’ in him, as that alone is your support in the dark journey towards unknown.

·       Guru’s blessing is not your earning. Neither you have any talent for it, nor is it in any proportion to your labour. There is no way you can ever repay this debt. You can only feel gratitude. However, you must keep doing whatever your intellect suggests, as this alone would increase your chances of receiving Guru’s blessing.

·       You must meet Guru with total emptiness within, free from all pre-conceived notions.

·     You must surrender totally – both your head and ego must be bent, and this should be consistently maintained.

·  You meet Guru with childlike simplicity, naturalness, without any mental make-up, with total ignorance.

·       You must work towards opening your fifth centre of energy (at throat). Then, you would understand whatever Guru speaks and does not speak. You will gain the capacity to accept and express ‘truth’.

·    Guru helps you in further raising your energy up to the sixth centre (between the eyebrows), whereby your third eye is opened. Nothing is anymore hidden from you within and without.

·      Guru systematically attacks your pre-conceived notions and principles with his words, like arrows, and annihilates them all. This is very painful. You should be prepared to even die at his hands with complete ‘Shradha’. But, don’t make the mistake of preserving Guru’s words, thereafter, as that would mean replacing one set of thoughts with another.

·       You must derive essence of what Guru says, rather than remembering his words, just like extracting clarified butter from milk. ‘Words’ are like shells carrying vital gunpowder (essence). You don’t need to preserve empty shells, once the bullet has done its job. Furthermore, ‘words’ could be many but their ‘essence’ is brief.

·       Guru intensifies pain within you, urging for Self-realisation.

·    Under such pain, you totally surrender to Guru, who then establishes your connection with the eternal truth within.

·      At this stage, God’s remembrance in your mind becomes so acute that you are completely lost in it at all the times, in and through all worldly activities. Every act becomes worship.

·       Salvation is inherent in true devotion. Seek salvation in devotion, not without.

·     Thus, Guru takes you up to a point of total surrender and then leaves you alone to merge with the Totality in solitude.

Understanding Ego

 

I wish to summarize my understanding of “sorrow” based on a talk given by Swami Sarvapriyananda ji.

Causes of Sorrow

The cause of sorrow can be traced to three levels: physical, mental, and ego.

Physical: There are 3 sources from where sorrow at physical level may be caused:

Nature: Examples: extreme weather (heat/cold/dust/rain/snow); extreme events (earthquakes/tsunami/epidemics/storms/thunder & lightning).

Other Beings/things: Examples: People assaulting, abusing, insulting, deceiving, OR Stock market crash, insects/animal attack, property loss.

Within own body: Examples: sickness, accidents, ageing.

Mental: Any sorrow is experienced in the mind alone. Therefore, a thought of suffering or pain must arise in the mind for experiencing the sorrow. Under the effect of anesthesia or coma, no sorrow is experienced because the mind doesn’t receive any signal to trigger the thought of pain or suffering. If someone abuses you in a language that you don’t know, no thought of hurt will arise in the mind.

Ego: At the deepest level, we experience sorrow only when we identify with the thought of pain or suffering in the mind. Although it is my mind that experiences pain, my ego identifying with my mind tends to say “I am in pain”.

In conclusion, anything happening in the outside world or even in my own body must give rise to a thought of uneasiness or anxiety in the mind, and I must identify myself with this thought to become sorrowful. In reality, I can’t be what I experience. I am witness of an experience in my mind. No one can make me unhappy without my permission.

What is Sorrow?

Sorrow can be defined as:

Sorrow is modification in nature: Nature is made up of Sattwa, Rajas and Tamas which are constantly in dynamic motion. Predominance of Rajas is designed to give both pleasure and pain. Thus sorrow is an inherent aspect of nature.

Sorrow is appearance in Brahman (Maya): In dream we experience sorrow. While in the dream-world the sorrow is real but on waking up we dismiss it as an illusionary appearance in the mind. Similarly, when one transcends the waking-world it is realized that whatever is experienced in the waking also is an appearance in the Consciousness. You appear to yourself as sorrow.

Sorrow is Brahman: Everything in the universe is nothing apart from Brahman. Brahman or God manifests in a variety of ways, including sorrow.

Ways to overcome Sorrow (Spiritual Practices)

Devotee: Sorrow is grace of God. It brings me closer to God (Kunti asking Krisna for the boon of sorrow).

Karma yogi: Sorrow is erasing my bad karma of the past. I am becoming free of my bad karma.

Yogi: Shuts down (transcends) the mind and senses through meditation.

Gyani: It is an offence to complain about sorrow if I have realized the truth. If Brahman alone is, where is any place for sorrow?

Everyone can be a Hero

I wish to share my reflections and the essence of a beautiful talk I recently watched.

Through long research in the field of Psychology based on a 1949 published book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces” by Joseph Campbell, researchers have concluded that there are seven elements of a Hero. These seven elements are briefly described below:

1.     Protagonist

You are the protagonist of your own life story. It is up to you how you write it. What you identify with as your main identity will influence all the other elements. Don’t confuse your identity with your ever-changing roles. Your identity is you – never changing. How about being a ‘seeker of truth’?

2.     Shift in Circumstances

You should move out of your comfort zone and be open to changes in circumstances. Life will test you by putting you in different circumstances as soon as you feel comfortable in a situation. You should embrace the change without resistance, as it will open the door to new possibilities.

3.     Quest

Your identity will drive your quest or purpose in life. Try to make your quest beyond your selfish interests. The higher the quest/purpose, the greater is the fulfilment in life. You truly start living the life of a human being when your quest is beyond your physical survival.

4.     Allies/Mentors

In the pursuit of your purpose/quest, you must make alliances with like-minded people to keep you motivated and find mentors to guide you on the chosen path. Without this support/guidance, you may get frustrated or get lost under the heavy weight of your quest. No one has ever won any war without allies.

5.     Challenges

The higher the quest, the greater will be the challenge. Life presents each challenge to test one’s competence/worthiness for claiming the reward of one’s quest. Giving up in the face of a challenge is giving up this reward. Your current weaknesses or bad habits are your greatest challenges. Address one challenge at a time. Take a resolve to win over this challenge sincerely.

6.     Transformation

In finding ways to win over a challenge, one grows in competence/worthiness. You go through a transformation, however slow it may be. You don’t build a strong physique overnight. Your competition is with yourself. “Am I a better version of myself today?”, should be your daily enquiry. Learning should never stop while pursuing your quest.

7.     Legacy

Did anyone else benefit from your life’s journey? Did your life inspire someone else? Are you leaving behind any legacy for others on a similar journey? A true hero always leaves behind a rich legacy that survives much after he/she is gone.

Further research has shown that those who inculcated all the above seven elements in their life find their life most meaningful, fulfilled, and happy. A very useful way of finding this out is to write your own life story to date and check how much of these seven elements are already involved in it and work on improving them in the future. Thus, everyone can become a hero of his/her own life story and enjoy complete fulfilment.

Dealing with Decision Dilemma

Every decision shapes our future. However, we often face situations where decision making becomes very difficult and we are not sure if the decision taken is correct. We are caught up in the decision dilemma. Recently, I came across a talk that gave a practical approach to solve this dilemma. Here, I share my understanding of this approach.

1.     Decide to Challenge

Most of us live our lives like a traveler who doesn’t know from where he came, where he is going and why is he on the train. We simply follow others like herds of cattle. So, the first thing one has to do is to challenge the ‘status quo’ and other’s definition of success. You must find your own definition of success. You must pause and ask: “What is it that will give me ultimate fulfilment and happiness in life?” Look around and check if those, who have reached the top of their respective career following common belief of success, enjoy ultimate fulfilment and happiness. It is possible that you may not figure it out on your own.

2.     Decide to Consult

It is time to look for external help. This help may come from reading inspiring books, listening to motivational talks, or consulting someone who radiates happiness around. Such reading and consulting will open your eye of wisdom through which you can clearly see your ultimate goal in life. Maintain this relationship with books and mentors throughout your life.

3.     Decide to Connect

Having defined the ultimate goal of life, take every decision that is connected with this goal. This is the best use of your available time, energy and resources. Don’t give up what you want most for what feels good now. Temptations born out of old habits will lure you towards immediate pleasures, thus draining your precious limited assets. However, your conviction on the ultimate goal will help you steer out of such pitfalls. Test every decision by asking: “Will it help me move towards my goal?”

4.     Decide to be Courageous

Drop all doubts, hesitations, fear and anxiety while pursuing your goal. Once you mentally surrender to the goal, you will be filled with the required courage to overcome all barriers. Take risk, if you must, to progress on the path. Enjoy the thrill of breaking out of your comfort zone. Every time you step out of your comfort zone, you get stronger and matured. Life will continuously test your strength by posing challenges on the way. Reward of winning a challenge is a bigger challenge. A player wins a tournament by consistently winning over increasing challenges through the tournament. Play the game of life in this spirit while enjoying every challenge.

Is Artificial Intelligence (AI) Scary?

While the media is abuzz with the application of AI in almost every fabric of our personal and professional lives, people are worried about being replaced by the robots in the not so distant future. Is this going to be true? Will the robots rule over humans?

Let us first decipher what does Artificial Intelligence mean? Artificial intelligence (AI) is a term for simulated intelligence in machines. These machines are programmed to "think" like a human and mimic the way a person acts. Artificial intelligence is based around the idea that human intelligence can be defined in such exact terms that a machine can mimic it.

Let us now look at how human intelligence works.

Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie in their book, “The Book of Why” explain. Human intelligence essentially works in three ways: Seeing or Observing, Doing or Intervening and Imagining; retrospection or understanding.

Through observation, we associate the observed fact with a conclusion or belief. In this approach, we limit ourselves to the passively collected data and try to find a pattern which may help us predict a conclusion.

Through doing or intervening, we mentally try to change the observed data, which is the basis of prediction. We ask, “What would be the result, if I did something else? Or, how can I make this happen?” No amount of passively collected data can help us answer such questions. And yet, we humans often use this approach effortlessly in making-up our minds.

Through imagining, retrospection or understanding, we go back in time, change history, and ask, “What would have happened, if I had not taken that job?” Passively collected data become ineffective to answer such questions. We cannot run an experiment of denying job to a person who has already worked on that job and compare the results. Yet the human mind makes such explanation-seeking inferences reliably and repeatedly.

George Bernard Shaw has famously said, “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?”

Now the question is, “Can this vast human intelligence be defined in such exact terms that a machine can mimic it?” If yes, we have reasons to fear AI.

Presently, machine learning programs (including deep neural networks) operate almost entirely in an associational mode. They are driven by a set of observations to which they attempt to fit a function. However, complex this function may be, raw data still drives the fitted function. The programmed driverless car cannot predict how a pedestrian under the influence of alcohol will respond to a honking horn. A recent fatal incident involving a driverless car and a pedestrian in the USA is a testimony of such serious flaws.

Mathematicians and Scientists have realized such serious limitations of the machines and are busy developing “Causal Models” that may try to mimic human way of thinking, but will they come even close? We must not forget that a machine is after all developed by a human mind. And hence, no matter how advanced they may become, they will remain subservient to human mind.

Having said this, AI powered machines will take over all those jobs which are currently based on passively collected data and their analyses. However, this shouldn’t be viewed as a threat. Indeed, this is an opportunity for humans to rise above the current level of working, and tap into those areas of their minds which have remain dormant all this time.

Therefore, upskilling and reskilling is the only way forward for the human race to sustain and thrive in the future.

I suggest taking following steps to capitalize on this golden opportunity of the AI knocking at our future doors:

• Make friendship with the AI. It is here to help us do our work more efficiently and effectively. Indeed, we should call it “Augmented Intelligence”, instead of “Artificial Intelligence”.

• Learn and use available and evolving AI tools in day-to-day work. Many of them are freely available, at least at present. Make a habit of getting familiar with one tool every week. A word of caution: don’t share your confidential information/document with any online tool.

• Focus on sharpening your soft skills: communication, teamwork, leadership, time management, adaptability, problem-solving, critical thinking, work ethic, creativity and emotional intelligence.

• Make your life simple. Declutter all those aspects that create confusion and irritation in the mind.

• Spend some time with the nature and practice meditation. This will help you rooted in the reality, lest you get lost in the virtual world.

• Search for the real purpose of your life and what makes you deeply happy. Direct your energy towards such goals.

• Remember: you are a unique creation of the nature with unlimited capacity to think and create.