31st May morning speech English translation - Part II

[Guest guest]

There once lived a man in a village. I come from a village, so I know

about this. Most of you might have seen it. There used to be

something called Chekku. There would be a big cauldron made of wood

with a grinding stick in the center. When a bull/cow pulls at it and

goes around, you could grind peanuts or sesame to get oil. Nowadays

you have machines to do that. So this man's oil grinder was worn out

because of usage over time. He need wood to replace it with a new

one. He thought, " Let me go to the forest and cut some wood so that I

can make a new chekku. " He went to the forest and picked a tree to

cut. When he started cutting the tree, a voice pleaded, " Please don't

cut the tree. " The man was puzzled as he heard a voice but could not

see anybody. Suddenly from the top of the tree a ghost jumped down

and said, " I have been living in this tree for many years now. If you

cut this tree down I have nowhere else to go. " The man got startled

due to the sudden appearance of the ghost but managed to regain his

composure. He said, " But I need some wood, what shall I do? " The

ghost replied, " Why do you need to cut wood for an making an oil

grinder and then earn a hard living? Instead of that I will supply

you with a bag of sesame seeds every day. You can make your living by

just selling the seeds. " The man was happy as he did not have to work

for his livelihood anymore and returned back to his home.

 

From next morning onwards the ghost started dropping off a bag of

sesame seeds everyday and the man led a happy life by selling it.

Over time, the ghost's time to deliver the bag of sesame got delayed,

so much that it started delivering them in the dead of the night. The

reason for this was because the ghost did not do any farming on its

own to cultivate the seeds. It used to steal from others farms and

give it to the oilman. Once the sesame seeds in the farms nearby got

exhausted, the ghost had to travel over longer distances to find a

farm and steal the sesame seeds. After having got exhausted in the

search for sesame seeds, one day the ghost pondered, " I thought I

could live happily on the tree by accepting to deliver a bag of

sesame seeds everyday. Now I am spending all of my time searching for

the sesame seeds and don't have any time to take rest in the tree. At

the same time, now I have to live by the promise I had given to the

oil man. " So thinking the ghost became very sad. Then it pulled

itself together, " Whatever happens, let me go and take some rest on

the tree today. " and went to its tree. While it was climbing the

tree, it heard another voice, " Don't climb the tree. " The voice was

that of another ghost that had occupied the tree in the meanwhile.

The first ghost said, " This is my tree. How can you occupy it? " The

other ghost said, " Its been a long time since you were gone. Hence I

decided to take over the tree and now its mine. " The two ghosts

quarreled among themselves for sometime. The new occupant

said, " Don't you worry, you are afraid of that oil man, right? You

show me where he lives, I will go, give him a blow and kill him. Then

we can live peacefully together in this tree. " The first ghost agreed

and took him to where the oilman lived. The new ghost said, " I will

hide myself in the cow shed, our man will come to milk the cows early

in the morning, I will seize the opportunity then and kill him once

and for all. "

 

So the new ghost was all ready waiting to kill. This oilman

incidentally had decided to fit new iron shoes (similar to a horse

shoe) on the legs of the cows and bulls that day. So he got all his

materials like hammer and iron shoes together under a tree and got a

small fire started. He had bought a new cow, which was a little wild

by nature. He wanted his wife to bring the wild cow first so that he

could attach the iron shoes. He shouted out to his wife, " First get

me the new ghost (of a cow). Let me attach its shoes first. " Our new

ghost was startled, " This man seems to know where I am hiding, he is

planning to put iron shoes on me. " It panicked and came out of its

hiding place and said, " O oil man, please leave me alone. The first

ghost agreed to give you only one bag of sesame everyday, I promise

to give you two. Don't put iron shoes on my feet. "

 

We are all like that. We begin our role in this world thinking that

we should be secure and lead a happy life with a good job or

business, a family, children etc. In the game of enjoying the world

that you have started, you are always running around just like the

first ghost, which thought it would lead a happy life on the tree but

finally ended up having no time to even sit on the tree as it was

running around all the time. Beginning with childhood, you were

always reading class books. Nowadays in XII grade even during summer

vacation you have special classes. Or you would have tests on even

weekends and become a bookworm ending up with a pair of thick lenses

by the time you graduate from school. So you have no time in your

school days.

 

Then you take up a job. If you avail leave you may lose your job.

Your job itself gets confirmed only if you work for 240 days

continuously. After that, you would strive to work harder in order to

get promotion. You would get your salary for your regular work up to

5pm but would end up working late until 8pm. There are people who

work even on Saturdays and Sundays. Even if you get a paid vacation,

you en-cash it and work in the office instead. In the meanwhile you

get other responsibilities. You would be spending all your lifetime

like this running around. When did you ever enjoy your life? Just

like the first ghost that was running around for the bag of sesame

seeds, you will never experience the happiness that you began seeking

till the end. Your children will grow, you will have to take loans

for their education, you have to get them married. At the end of it

all you will lose your health and become old. Who is going to take

care of you then?

 

This is your life. Because of this constant running around you

haven't been able to grasp the meaning of life. You are not able to

realize that you are God, and you have divine powers and you are

wasting it. That's why our elders say, " I had so much love for my

Mother in my childhood, I failed to think of You then. Then I got

married and started loving my wife. I didn't have time to think of

You then too. Then I had children and started loving them. I forgot

to think of You then. Even after all that was over, when I decided to

turn my attention to You, I was already a sick person. When will I

ever be able to think of You, O God? I have always had something to

take care of and did not have time to start my journey towards You. "

 

Once a frog was caught by a snake and was in the process of being

swallowed. Exactly at the same time a small insect came nearby. The

frog itself was about to die. At that time it extended its tongue to

snap up the insect. Likewise, all of us in this world are frogs

struggling desperately in the mouth of a snake called death. Without

knowing this you go after a position, sensual pleasures and other

materialistic things. You don't know when snake of death is going to

swallow you.

 

There was a king called Parikshit who was supposed to meet his death

after being bitten by a snake (in 7 days) called Dakshak. Similarly,

snake in the form of death is waiting for each one of us. If it comes

while I am speaking here, I will be no more. Can anyone escape death

in this world? Paramachariyar was God but he is not alive. Take

politics, where is Indira Gandhi, where is Sivaji (Ganesan)? No one

is alive any more. Everyone has to go at some point. You can have

his/her photo or statue, but they themselves cannot exist forever.

This is the case with even Rama, Krishna and Jesus too. The body has

to perish but the Light will remain. Even after witnessing others

death, you are under the blind belief that death will never to come

to you. Can anyone tell me he/she will not die? It comes without

regard to age, sex and religion. This is what people tend to forget.

 

Whoever knows that death is imminent, he will lead a happy life. Even

things like wealth, car, bungalows and respect in the society even if

you are President of India will not help you to avoid death. I

recently saw the horoscope of Abdul Kalaam in a magazine. He has to

leave his body in 2004. Can you ask, " He is a scientist and a

President, how come he will die? " When appropriate time comes, anyone

has to leave. It is impossible to escape from death.

 

If you get to know the inevitability of death, you wont worry about

anything. So while you are alive, don't run around like the ghost

looking for bag of sesame seeds all the time. This present moment is

the only truth. Try to be happy at this moment. Do you know why I am

happy? Neither do I have misgivings about the past nor do I have

worries about the future. I am living in the current moment. I

chitchat, crack jokes, laugh, have a good time and if it is possible

to do anything good, I will do it. I have set up my mind like that,

that's why I don't have joy or sadness.

 

You can also become like me. When you become like me then you will

understand spirituality. Your worries about the past and the fear of

the future make you forget the happiness that you can get at this

very moment. This happiness is the first step to the Bliss. God's

other name is eternal Bliss, Satchidaananda. This is one of the

qualities you have, its not a form. If you bring out that quality in

you, then you will realize the God in you. Bharathi said, " The one

who is immersed in worries all the time is a sinner. " Leave your

worries behind, then God will manifest Himself in the form of

happiness in you.

 

Assume you have a golden cup. Try putting a fish in that cup. Will it

be happy? What it needs is water, then it will be happy. Its

happiness doesn't depend on whether the cup is made of gold or clay.

So your being rich or poor is akin to having a cup made of gold or

clay. The fish called your Atma is happy only when it is with water

called Paramaatma. You are worrying about the material the cup is

made of. It will not make you happy. When you imbibe Godliness, then

you will be happy. You will be happy even if you live in a hut. The

one who does not have this quality will be sad even if he lives in a

bungalow. Don't think rich people are happy, he is in much more

trouble than you.

 

After looking at posters, you might have been thinking that film

producer GV, brother of Mani Ratnam (a famous director) and brother-

in-law of Suhasini (well known actress) was well off and had a nice

time in his life. Now you know he had loans to the tune of Rs.200

crores ($40 million). He could have committed suicide by taking some

pills. If he had decided to die, he could have chosen to die happily.

Instead he chose the hard way and hung himself from a ceiling fan. He

was such an educated man, a chartered accountant, see how his mind

got confused at the end. I just gave you an example.

 

You talk about Rockfeller so much. During the last days of his life

he was a pauper. Can you believe? The Government confiscated all his

property as he did not pay tax. He died an ordinary man. Nothing

lasts forever, youth, your body, nothing you see will come along with

you. You cannot take anything along with you. What are you going to

achieve by going after these materialistic things? You are wasting

your time in looking for status.

 

The only truth is the Godliness in you which is being in eternal

Bliss. The obstacle to that are the worries that you have created for

yourself. These come because of your past karmas and your confused

thinking. Lets chalk out some steps.

Step1 - Be clear in your thinking.

Step2 - Understand that this world is false and learn to live every

moment in happiness.

 

When the happiness in you flows steadily like a stream, then you will

understand the Godliness in you. Until that time you will be filling

yourself with sorrow. God is never sorrowful, he is Joy personified.

What you have to search for is bliss, but what you are searching for

is sadness. You are never going to attain God at this rate even after

many births. You will find God only when you are happy. For that you

have to have clear thinking.

 

Step 3: Don't worry about yesterday and don't fear tomorrow. Learn to

live peacefully this very moment. God will never forsake you. God

takes care of everyone and brings everyone ashore. He is always with

you, you don't know that. The parents of a child toil because they

want to see their child happy. Our parent is God, he is not going to

torture us, does he have anything else to do? Have you ever seen any

parent try to make the life of their child miserable? God never lets

anyone down, God always protects, God only protects, man cannot

protect you. Whatever problems you are in, He can solve it for you.

For that you have to have faith in God and love Him. Don't fear God,

love God.

 

Over time God has been depicted as a person to be feared. I don't

believe in that at all. God is someone who is to be loved. Think of

God as your Father or Mother. Take liberty with him as you would with

your parents. Scold him, " Why did you create me in this world? "

or " I need good dress for today. " Ask Him directly, why are you

running around people? If He does not do it then come and ask me. You

haven't even asked for it, you are running around MLAs (senators) and

VIPs for obtaining a college seat. If you truly believe in God, just

apply and you will get an admission automatically, try it. You don't

have belief. You talk of belief in God but you don't have it.

 

Whatever I think will happen because I believe firmly that God will

do anything for me. You believe in ordinary people, you haven't even

started to believe the most powerful entity called God. You should

believe in Him totally, then you will see a total change in your

life. Anything you think will happen.

 

Lets talk of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Yesterday was past,

tomorrow is future. In English they call today as " Present " . Assume

its your birthday, your parents give you a birthday present. If its

wedding, they give you a wedding present. So the meaning of present

is " Gift " . So this moment is a " Gift " given to you by your Father

called God. Enjoy it, laugh, be happy, forget your sorrows, you will

understand about happiness in life. Present is the only truth,

nothing else in this world is true. Why are you worrying about

tomorrow? When He can plant a seed, will He not know to water it? For

every newborn animal or being in the forest, when He has created a

parent that obtains food and feeds it into the newborn's mouth, will

He not take care of you?