DETACHMENT IS LIBERATION

[Guest guest]

DETACHMENT IS LIBERATION

 

We should not get ourselves attached to any individual, to any

single place, or to any one book because the source is one. Truth is

one. Attachment is bondage and non-attachment is liberation. People

ask, " What is bondage? " Bondage need not necessarily be to your

family, or to your property or your profession. Bondage is simply an

attachment to an individual, place or ideology.

 

Non-attachment is liberation. You allow things to happen. You allow

yourselves to be open to the Truth wherever it is said, wherever it

is declared or found. You see the same Truth with all the reverence

and respect. As a simple example of this, suppose there is a river.

You allow the river to flow, and as it flows, you simply enjoy it.

If you don't allow it to flow, it becomes stagnant, a pool or a

pond, and you cannot enjoy it as much because you are allowing it to

become polluted.

 

Now think of non-attachment as something like a river or a stream.

It flows continuously, remaining totally unpolluted, remaining pure

and fit to drink. Spiritual life is a continuous flow of water,

where you will find the Truth at any point because it simply goes on

flowing. That's why people say that spirituality is an eternal

journey, an endless path. It has neither a beginning nor an end. It

goes on and on. It is an eternal pilgrimage.

 

TRUE FREEDOM IS UNCONDITIONAL We have some funny ideas about

freedom. Everyone thinks, " I am free. " When you are free, see to it

that others also enjoy their freedom. Denying the freedom of another

while claiming to be free yourself is neither justified nor logical.

You are free, and the other person is also as free as you are. Allow

them to exercise their own freedom. Allow them to think freely for

themselves. Freedom means that you think others are as free as you

in thought, word, and action. I cannot say I am free if I think in

one way and act in another. That only means that I want to prevail

over others. You will sound as if you want to make others slaves,

while you want to be free.

 

So a man who is totally free is one who loves freedom and gives

equal freedom to the other person. Just as he honours his own

freedom, the free man gives freedom to the other and respects the

other's freedom. What is true freedom? True freedom is

unconditional. When I say this, how many people disagree? You are

very free to until you can agree that freedom is unconditional.

 

FREEDOM IS FLEXIBLE AND UNPREDICTABLE What is freedom? Freedom

requires that you do not just stick to the same thoughts and beliefs

throughout your journey. Many people find one thing to be true at

one time; but later, with more experience and maturity, their old

notions of Truth are replaced. With maturity and experience, we

change and grow. So, freedom is fluid and flexible, as well as

unconditional.

 

By enjoying my own freedom today and allowing you yours, I cannot

say what I am going to do tomorrow. I do not know how I am going to

react tomorrow. I cannot say what my feelings will be tomorrow as

freedom is unpredictable. My friends, freedom has three qualities.

Freedom is unconditional, it is fluid and flexible, and it is

unpredictable. These are the three essential qualities of true

freedom. Anything else is just a show, a drama and pretence.

 

BE TRUE TO YOURSELF We cannot please everybody all the time and we

don't have to. It is not necessary. Please understand this. In

trying to please somebody, I may be displeasing someone else. So it

is impossible to please everyone. Even for a politician! In trying

to please everybody, we deceive ourselves and cheat ourselves.

 

Baba once gave us an example to help us to understand this concept.

 

Once during a hot summer when mango fruits were plentifully

available for sale, one fellow put a big bowl of mangoes in front of

his shop with a sign that read: Good mango fruits sold here!

 

Someone saw this said to him, " You seem to be a fool. "

 

The shopkeeper asked him why he said that, and the man said, " This

is mango season and they are sold everywhere. You don't have to say

that mango fruits are sold here! It is foolish. "

 

So the shopkeeper summoned a painter and had that word `mango'

removed from his sign so that it then read: Good fruits are sold

here.

 

Then somebody came along and said, " What fruits do you sell? Your

sign simply say fruits. It doesn't indicate whether you have grapes

or papayas or bananas. What fruits what do you mean? "

 

So the shopkeeper again called the painter and had the word `fruit'

removed. Then what remained on his sign? Good sold here. (Laughter)

 

Then another fellow came along and said, " We see your shop here. You

don't need to say `here'. After all, you cannot have your shop here

and yet sell somewhere else. What do you mean by using the

word `here'? You see? It is a most illogical sign. "

 

So the shopkeeper called the painter again and had the word `here'

removed. So, `good' and `sold' were the only two words that remained

on his sign: Good sold.

 

Another fellow came and said, " Do you mean `good' or `goods'? Is

good sold here or are goods sold here? What do you mean? "

 

" No sir, it is only good, not goods, " the shopkeeper replied.

 

And the visitor retorted, " Will anybody bad fruit? The word `good'

is meaningless. "

 

So the shopkeeper summoned the painter again and had the word `good'

removed from his sign. So now all that remained was the word: sold.

 

Another fellow then came along and said, " What are you going to

sell? Yourself? Or are you selling the board itself? " So he summoned

the painter one more time and got the word `sold' removed from the

sign.

 

The painter then presented him with two bills. The first bill was

for painting " Good fruits are sold here " , and the second bill was

for removing every word. By trying to please everyone, he lost

everything. Even the sign! So you don't gain anything by trying to

please everybody.

 

There is also another story that relates to this. It seems that a

young man and an old man were passing by one day with a donkey, and

somebody said, " That donkey is walking and those two fellows are

walking too. What useless fellows! They could sit on the donkey and

let him do all the walking! What is the donkey for? You two own the

donkey, but you seem to be the real donkeys! Why do you two walk

next to the donkey? "

 

These two fellows heard this and said, " Oh I see! "

 

Then the younger man had the old man sit on the back of the donkey.

Now, with the old man sitting on the donkey, somebody came along and

said, " What a shame. There is a very young man there, and this old

fellow can walk slowly, at about the pace of this slow donkey. At

least the little fellow could sit on the donkey. " So, the old man

got down and then had the young man sit on the back of the donkey.

 

Yet another man said, " This young man is sitting on the donkey,

while this old fellow is walking. This fellow is brainless. " So now,

both the fellows sat on the back of the donkey.

 

Somebody else came along and said, " That poor donkey has to carry

the weight of both those fellows! " So the two men got off of the

donkey and walked on their own. (Laughter) So these two lost the

donkey, and they were abused and criticised by every fellow they

passed along the way.

 

So friends, if you go on listening to others' rumours, gossip and

opinions and live according to them, yours will be something like

the story of these two men and their donkey. If we live our lives

trying to please others, we ultimately will lose the donkey and the

sign, and it will all cost us more to boot. So the fact is that we

cannot please all people all the time. By trying to please

everybody, we betray ourselves, losing the little bit that we are

left with. That is what I would like to tell you.

 

SELF CONDEMNATION IS THE WORST OF SINS Let the title of this

morning's talk be " Be Careful " . The next thing that I would like you

to be careful about is avoiding self-condemnation.

 

Some people say to me, " You don't know, Anil Kumar, I was a smoker

at one time. "

 

Why should I care that he was a smoker? It is good that he is not a

smoker now. Likewise, somebody might say, " I was once an awful

drunkard. "

 

So what? My friends, condemning oneself is much worse than anything

that one actually may have previously done. We can make any mistake,

but our maintaining a guilty conscience is much worse. Any mistake

that I committed is over and done with; but if I go on telling

everybody, " You know, last week I made a terrible mistake, " that is

much worse. You made a mistake! So what?

 

Some people feel that they are not worthy to be here in Prashanti

because of mistakes that they have made in the past. " We are not

worthy to see Bhagavan or we are not worthy to be in Prashanti

Nilayam. "

 

Please then, just stay at home! (Laughter) Self-condemnation is the

worst of evils! It is the worst of all sins! Let us not condemn

ourselves. Good or bad, whatever it may be that we have done, let us

accept ourselves as we are now, today. Let us accept ourselves as we

are, with all our plusses and minuses, with all that is positive and

negative, with all the virtues and with the faults. Accept yourself

as you are! That is true spirituality. Self-condemnation is wrong

and it is a weakness. It leads to depression and frustration. As we

learn to ride a bicycle, we fall repeatedly; but then there comes a

time we are able to ride freely, when we don't fall anymore.

 

GOD PARDONS ALL OUR MISTAKES I heard a great Christian evangelist

named Joyce Meyer who appears on TV every morning. I listen to her

talks, as I am open to hear anybody's thoughts, to hear the ideas

about spirituality that anyone might have. I don't keep my ears

closed. Anyway, Joyce Meyer made one statement that imprinted itself

in my mind, and I would like to share that thought with you.

 

Nobody now or in the future is capable of committing a mistake that

is unpardonable by God. You cannot commit any mistake that God will

not pardon. This means that whatever we say or do is trivial in the

sight of God. To Him, any and all are pardonable. Don't think that

you are unpardonable. Don't think of yourself as a sinner, as

dishonest, or as a drunk. Stop that nonsense! Stop it because we

need to learn to accept ourselves.

Whatever mistakes we may have made are pardonable. Self-condemnation

is very bad for either a materialist or a spiritualist. If a

materialist, a scientist, goes on condemning himself, he will end up

a failure. If a spiritualist condemns himself continually, he will

become agnostic. Therefore, self-condemnation should not be in our

minds at any time!

We will continue Prof Anil Kumars,s Satsung Part-3

 

(Sharing with sai love)

 

Ram Chugani

Kobe, Japan

rgcjp