dinayaminyau sayam pratah sisira vasantau punarayatah
kalah kridati gacchantyayuhu tadapi na munchati asha vayuh
The cycles of day and night, fall and spring, come again and again. The body is becoming the playground of time. Life is passing away but still one does not give up mundane desires.
Bhaja Govindam
There is a Bengali song that describes the condition of a
beggar who comes back at the end of the day and looks into his
bag to see what he has collected and finds only dust in there. It
is likened to the journey of life at the end of which one is praying, "O God, I lived my life like a beggar. I searched for one thing after another. Towards the end of my life, when I wanted to take account of what I had achieved, and collected I found that it is all dust." This body is made of dust, and it will go to dust again. And whatever material things we try to collect and gather in our lives are useful, no doubt, but it is nothing but dust.
What do we want in our life? What is our real goal in life?
One day we are born, and one day we have to leave the body; the period between birth and death is so precious, so valuable, because whatever we get in this life comes from this time period.
But what do we really want? We pray to God. What types of prayer do we have? God is like Mother Durga. She has ten hands and you have only two hands. She is ready to give you plenty with her ten hands, but with your small hands you are asking her for small favors one at a time. Can you not pray, "O Divine Mother,
O God, I want you. Let me establish my relationship with you as
your child with love and understanding." When you get God, you
get everything. God is of the nature of immortal bliss. When you
get peace, you get everything. When you have love, you have
everything.
Meera was given poison in an attempt to kill her. She drank the poison thinking it to be holy water from the temple of her beloved Lord Krishna. The poison could not kill her and she remained singing in ecstasy in her love of God. Even if you drink
poison with prayer, that poison will become the nectar.
People do many types of businesses investing time and money for material gains. In a business you invest your time and talent, in such an intelligent way to be a successful businessman with high profit. Life is also a business where the capital is time and breath. If you waste your time, you are losing your capital. Every spiritual seeker should be an intelligent businessman investing the treasure of time, to earn spirituality, calmness and love. Even in your ordinary business of life, see what it is you are doing and what is your net gain. If we look back, many years have already passed? How many years lie ahead we don’t know. If we analyze over these past years, what our achievement is, we know what our weaknesses and what our strengths are.
If we are wise, we can eradicate our weakness, and we can grow further, but if we have ego, we cannot know our weakness. Ordinary people look at their own glories, their own glamour and their own goodness, but look at the mistakes of others. Intelligent people seek their own mistakes instead of finding
fault with others. The mind could be like a bee or a fly. If the
mind is like a fly, it will go to dirty things collecting germs and spreading diseases. If the mind is like a bee, it will go from flower to flower collecting honey, and at the same time helping God's creation with pollination. How is your mind? Is your mind like a bee or is it like a fly? Is your mind after Truth, after love, after devotion, after goodness, after service, or is it with ego, vanity and pride? Remember, in God's creation we all are children. Nobody is superior and nobody is inferior.
Have strong will power. When I was in India, we had a
meeting with some blind students. We had some projects to help
them. The students were asked if they wanted others to help
them. A young man, born blind, twenty-three years of age said,
"We don't need sympathy. We need support and encouragement.
We have talent and we can do miracles in life." You cannot say
that it is ego; it is willpower. It is the willpower in the person who can do miracles in life.
If we really want to change our life, we should try hard. Do not waste time. God has given this body as a house to live in. It is a God-given gift. Time is a God-given opportunity. Intelligence that we have is a God-given beauty within us. Can we not use it? We look at little, little things and get worried and emotional, getting depressed, crying or being angry. There are two ways to express emotion. If we are a little bit weak, we cry. If we are a little bit stronger, we get angry. Neither of these two ways is good. It is better that we convert emotion into devotion and pray to God for strength to overcome problems.
The body will become old and the body will die. Before death comes, we should be able to declare that we are immortal, not with words, but with experience.
We were not born for failure; we are born to succeed. But to succeed, we need to decrease our ego; increase our prayer and work. If we work with trust in God, work with trust in our self, with sincerity, prayer and regularity, we will be successful.
What is the real success in life? It is harmony in all chakras.
Don't think only spirituality is enough. We need material excellence and we need spiritual excellence. We need them both. It takes two wings to fly. We are to work because we are to live in the society. Don't disrespect material things. They are necessary. At the same time, we should don't neglect our spiritual growth. If we are only after materialistic things, we will be restless, tired and extroverted and will have many other problems. We are to combine the two. We need excellence in everything. Wherever we go, and whatever we do, we should do it with love and with prayer. Even if failure comes, we will see it as an opportunity to be better. We should see where our weaknesses really are and be successful warriors.
The first thing that we need to do is to know what our strengths are and weaknesses are by a very impartial analysis. In the battlefield, before the war, the assessment should very realistic, without underestimating the weaknesses or everestimating the strength. Then try to find out how to overcome the weaknesses. There is no failure. If we try, our lives will be more beautiful, more successful.