Everything is a passing phase. Nothing is going to stay here for all time. Do you think we are all real? I doubt it and am suspicious. It is all a dream. Very soon, the moment will pass away. It will be a memory of the past. With all your knowledge, you cannot bring the moments back that are already past. They will never return to your vision. Can you bring back your childhood again? No, you cannot. If you think you are going back, it is only a memory. We can have photos and films, but it is only eyewash.. We are deceiving ourselves. Nothing can be brought back. It is all a dream. We are all dreaming. Some are clever enough to have beautiful dreams. Some are foolish enough to have bad dreams. What you wish you will dream. If you are scared of something, unconsciously you think of it again and again and therefore it comes to pass.
Many are born and pass away. You and I will pass away. This world does not belong to anyone. We think everything belongs to us. We are always after pos-
sessions. We want to acquire, we want to hold, to store, to achieve. We buy a house and think it is ours, but who knows what can happen? We think this land is ours; we have purchased it and we have paid for it, but we may lose it any time. We call wealth Goddess Laxmi. All money is nothing else but the goddess of wealth, whose other name is “Chanchala” which means “never stable but always moving and never staying in one place”. Money always moves from hand to hand.
You are standing on a moving ball. Your mind is moving. You are just a spot in a collection of stars. Everything in this world or “jagat” is moving. “Gat” means “to go” or “to pass away” in Sanskrit. “Jagat” is always moving and never in one place. We must have the correct attitude towards the world. Everything is moving.
You also have to move fast. If you want to be in the race you must move fast, but your motor must be in good repair. If you want to repair your motor, you have to stop it, check it, find out the defects, and then put it on the road. In short, in spiritual life, you must stop yourself and find out any defects. You must stop your mind for a while, though not for too long. You must be aware of yourself and then look at the world. High consciousness is very essential. We want to know the secrets that are unknown. The only method is to stop our minds for some time. If our minds are very, very active we are unable to know the secrets. Peace can be established after the storm, but in the beginning, there must be a storm. It is the herald of peace or quietness.
First published Oct 1991
Ashram