Q & A - 6

[Lots of people came and garlanded guruji]
Its not necessary to bring flowers for me. You blossom, you smile, thats
more important to me.

Q. You said we should allow children to play pranks, then how do we
bring in etiquette's in them?

A. You should take them to temple, make them participate in festivals
and make them do service. When you do some charity or similar work let
your children perform that activity. OK.

Q. Here men are doing a lot of service. Pls ask them to do a little bit
of it in the house also.

A. Yes. Yes, men should do service at home also.

Q. I've a very bad habit of stealing. How do I get rid of it?

A. Steal big! Steal people's heart! Steal knowledge! Whats their in stealing gold and utensils?

Q. Is it true that women should not do Gayatri mantra?

A. No. Women can do Gayatri mantra. Initially women use to do Gayatri
mantra, then men realised that women will become more powerful, so it
stopped. According to scripture, men and women both can do.

Q. You can read everybody's mind. You say you are in me and I'm in you, and we are god. Then why can't I read anybody's mind?

A. God never minds. Stop minding what others do, what others think.

Q. Why does your physical presence makes me cry?

A. When heart opens tears come.

Q. Why people make you so uncomfortable, they come in your way, they trouble you, I don't like that, I get very angry at them.

A. Don't worry. I'll tackle it. I'm strong.

Q. Whats Sakha bhav and Sakshi bhav?

A. Sakha means friend. If you don't have Sakha bhav, a distance comes.
You can be more closer to a friend than somebody sitting on a throne.
Sakshi (seer) - to our own thoughts. Observing that what is happening, is
happening. When you take your children to the doctor for an injection,
your child cries but you smile. That is Sakshi bhav. Similarly when you
are watching a movie you become a seer, you are just seeing what is
happening and you always have the option of switching it off. In life,
Sakshi bhav happens very frequently.


Q. Whats the secret of your smile? You don't get angry? If you have
never harassed somebody, how would you know the joy it brings?

A. There are a lot of other things to make you joyfull. Why to hurt
somebody for your joy? Some people find joy in beating others and some
find joy in getting beaten. There are many other things which can give
you greater joy. I try to show anger but people don't believe it. But I
have seen people getting angry and I know from that. Anger has a place
in life. Its required sometimes. Even some saints have shown anger,
when they did so it only brought prosperity and knowledge. Bhishma pitamah
had taken the pledge that he would make Krishna break his pledge of not
lifting the weapons in Mahabharat. Bhishma was known for his unbroken pledges. Just to make
sure that Bhishma's pledge stays, Krishna lifted the Sudarshan Chakra.
Because of this, till today they say if you take a pledge, take like
that of Bhishma.

Q. Why is my smile so fragile?

A. Have a broader vision. Don't give a lot of attention to the events
that are taking place in your life.

Q. Why do all Devi and Devta have so many hands and you have only two?

A. Hari has 1000 hands. All the hands present here are mine only.

Q.When I do sadhana, lot of bad thoughts come to my mind. What to do?

A.Surrender! When your stomach is upset or body is not well, you need
exercise or yoga, else you'll have bad thoughts.

Q. Whats the difference between swarg(heaven) and nark(hell)? If
anyways we have to take rebirth then why to do good deeds, why not do all the
bad things?

A. Don't do good work. Be miserable and cry. Just imagine if your
neighbour has the same thought, you'll be in trouble.

Q. Whats the significance of the turtle at the entrance of a temple?

A. Turtle signifies stability, stable mind and intellect. If you want
to go to divine you need to be like turtle. But it has been wrongly
understood, people have started worshiping and garlanding the turtle
itself. When they see a turtle outside they will kick it away and in
temple they'll pray its stone. There was a Kannada saint, he wrote, its
so confusing that people pray a stone of snake and offer it milk, but
when they see a live snake, forget about milk they kill the snake.
People pray and offer food to an idol but nothing to a living saint. I
don't say that you start offering food in todays scenario. Today there
a lot of imposters. Be judicious and aware when you are doing it today.
Pray the living! Men should donate 5% or 7% or 8% of their salary or
income towards social service. Women should form a group, each one of
them should save one or two handful of grains everyday, aggregate them
at the end of month and distribute among the needy. With that we will
do some work for the farmers, in Andhra Pradesh a lot of farmers are
committing suicide now days.

Q. When will the Ram temple be built in Ayodhya?

A. That should happen. Most of the people want to get this resolved.
But there are some people, lawyers, who are getting money from outside to
keep this issue alive. What if it was the birth place of Jesus, Mohamed
or Buddha? Everyone would say in one voice that their church, mosque or
temple should be built. Same feeling should be there for Ram also. Its
such a small place, I don't know why they are fighting for it. Its not
Muslims those who are creating problems, but so called secular Hindus.

Q. I'm a teacher in a Urdu school. They don't treat us properly. They
think those who don't believe in Allah are not a part of them. How has
been your experience in Muslim countries where you traveled?

A. Thats because they didn't had exposure to all this knowledge. Now we
are reaching them and its changing.

Q. Were you in love with somebody? If so then what shall someone do who
is in love with you?

A. Pyar hua nahi pyar hai [Love didn't happen, love is]. What is born,
dies. What is there, remains.

Q. [Something about dispassion]
A. Don't be dispassionate about knowledge, sadhna, seva. Apply
dispassion where it is required.



Jai Gurudev

Note: Some part of the discourse is a translation from Hindi to Englishand not verbatim.

10th.September.2004
-------------------