The Art of Getting Along With Others | Brother Anandamoy — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:02Let us all pray together.
- 0:04Heavenly Father,
- 0:06Mother,
- 0:08Friend,
- 0:09Beloved God,
- 0:12Jesus Christ,
- 0:14Bhagavan Krishna,
- 0:17Mahavatar Babaji,
- 0:21Lahiri Mahasaya,
- 0:24Swami Sri Yukteswarji,
- 0:28our guru,
- 0:30Paramahansa Yoganandaji,
- 0:34saints of all religions,
- 0:37we bow to you all.
- 0:42Beloved God,
- 0:44bless our service.
- 0:47Help us to feel Thy presence
- 0:51and bless us always,
- 0:54all our spiritual efforts.
- 0:57Help us to find Thee
- 1:01in our daily meditations,
- 1:05and finding Thee within,
- 1:08we shall find Thee without,
- 1:12in all people,
- 1:14in all conditions.
- 1:19Aum.
- 1:22Peace.
- 1:23Amen.
- 1:26Please be seated.
- 1:33Let us sit upright,
- 1:37and let us close our eyes
- 1:40and forget
- 1:42all outer thoughts, outer consciousness.
- 1:50Let us direct our attention inward
- 1:53and upward to the point between the eyebrows.
- 2:00All the great scriptures have mentioned that point;
- 2:05Jesus mentioned it as the single eye.
- 2:10It is the seat of the Christ Consciousness within us.
- 2:20And it is there that we can contact first the
- 2:26deeper experience of
- 2:28God’s consciousness, God’s presence.
- 3:17The subject today is
- 3:19"The Art of Getting Along With Others."
- 3:23Isn't that exciting? Huh?
- 3:27But you know, it took me a long time
- 3:32to understand
- 3:34how important this subject is.
- 3:39It is incredibly important. It is,
- 3:42I almost would say it is as important as meditation.
- 3:49I have big eyes now looking at me, but
- 3:53it is really.
- 3:56If we consider
- 4:00why we are here,
- 4:02it always comes back to that.
- 4:04And I suppose those of you who have
- 4:06been here, coming regularly for some time,
- 4:10you have heard me say that about a thousand times,
- 4:14and that we are in school,
- 4:17that this place — this earth — is not a vacation place.
- 4:22And so the disciplines — the main disciplines —
- 4:27in order to reach our goal, which is oneness with God
- 4:31— the realization of oneness with God —
- 4:34the main discipline is meditation.
- 4:40And that is why Paramahansa Yogananda came
- 4:43with his special dispensation, to bring us the techniques —
- 4:47Kriya Yoga.
- 4:51It's not enough.
- 4:54The next important — the way I see it,
- 4:57the next important discipline
- 5:01to reach our goal
- 5:03is to learn to live in harmony with other people.
- 5:10It's that important.
- 5:16Now, to the basic principle of this subject.
- 5:24Paramahansa Yogananda said,
- 5:26"The greatest happiness
- 5:29next to divine happiness,
- 5:32is to live in peace
- 5:33with those with whom we have to live every day of the year."
- 5:39This is a very powerful statement — very potent.
- 5:44"The greatest happiness next to divine happiness" —
- 5:48What is divine happiness?
- 5:51The bliss of God.
- 5:53And I suppose you heard about that last Sunday,
- 5:57because that was the subject, if I remember correctly —
- 6:02the bliss of God. That is the goal —
- 6:04oneness with God, oneness with Infinite Bliss.
- 6:09Now, next to that happiness
- 6:15is the happiness that comes
- 6:20by living in peace, living in harmony
- 6:24with those we have to live with,
- 6:26either in a family,
- 6:28or work with on a work job,
- 6:30or wherever we have to deal with people.
- 6:37Now, this gets right into the very core, the very essence
- 6:42of Paramahansa Yogananda's teachings.
- 6:45It goes into the very core of the science of yoga,
- 6:51the science of the teachings of Jesus Christ,
- 6:54the teachings of Krishna, the teachings of all the Great Ones.
- 6:57It goes right into the core of it.
- 7:03There is research — studies by sociologists —
- 7:08and they said, "The occasions that cause the most stress
- 7:14are not the ones commonly thought to be stress producers,
- 7:18such as job demands,
- 7:20financial problems,
- 7:22sickness in the family, and so on.
- 7:28The most upsetting occasions
- 7:31are interpersonal conflicts."
- 7:36Have you experienced that? Huh?
- 7:40We all have.
- 7:41That's how we learn, hopefully.
- 7:45That's how we learn.
- 7:48Now.
- 7:52The definition of yoga
- 7:58— you read this in the
- 7:59"Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda —
- 8:03definition of yoga, meaning the final goal that we are reaching,
- 8:06that we are supposed to reach,
- 8:09is union with God.
- 8:12And that comes through
- 8:15stilling the waves of consciousness.
- 8:22And that means that the whole thing is still,
- 8:25that goes into deep meditation.
- 8:28And the mind is still,
- 8:29completely absorbed, completely calm,
- 8:32completely concentrated,
- 8:34and the life force is completely still and absorbed
- 8:38in the higher chakras.
- 8:40When the emotions are completely calm,
- 8:44no ruffle,
- 8:45everything is still.
- 8:47It's exactly what it says in the Bible in the Old Testament,
- 8:51"Be still, and know that I am God."
- 8:56That's the only way
- 8:58that we can have the true experience of God —
- 9:02be still.
- 9:05Now can you imagine?
- 9:08Do you remember when you had some upset,
- 9:10some conflict with another person,
- 9:13and you tried to meditate?
- 9:16Didn't work.
- 9:18It didn't work.
- 9:20Because there's this commotion,
- 9:22emotional commotion going on inside, isn't it?
- 9:30And that is why it says in the Bible —
- 9:33Jesus said, "Before you go to worship"
- 9:36— I'm translating that into now modern language —
- 9:39"Before you go to worship,"
- 9:41meaning before you go to meditation,
- 9:46first thing analyze and see
- 9:48whether you have some problem with another person.
- 9:52And if there is, you go there and make peace
- 9:55and then you go to meditation.
- 9:58Because if you don't have peace inside,
- 10:01if there's inner commotion, if you are upset,
- 10:04you sit down in meditation, you cannot meditate.
- 10:09And when you look at the
- 10:13greatest commandment which is given in the Bible
- 10:16— Old Testament, New Testament —
- 10:19first, the highest commandment is
- 10:22"Love God with all your heart,
- 10:24all your mind, all your soul, all your strength."
- 10:29Right?
- 10:30Same thing is taught in the Gita.
- 10:32Same thing is taught in all the various scriptures of various religions.
- 10:37That's the highest commandment.
- 10:38That in one sentence is the whole principle,
- 10:43the whole essence of Kriya Yoga — Raja Yoga.
- 10:49But the next one,
- 10:50"Love thy neighbor as thyself,"
- 10:55is of equal importance.
- 10:58Isn't it amazing?
- 11:00And then Jesus said, "On these two commandments
- 11:05hang all the law,
- 11:07and all the prophets."
- 11:10That's the essence;
- 11:12that's the basic discipline that we have to consider.
- 11:18So, if we really understand what life is all about,
- 11:22that the goal of life is God-realization,
- 11:27and we really want that —
- 11:30takes a while to
- 11:31really understand that and really want that, isn't it?
- 11:37But once we understand why we are here
- 11:40and what the purpose is,
- 11:43these are the most essential disciplines:
- 11:47the one is meditation,
- 11:52and the other one is
- 11:53to live in harmony with other people.
- 11:57It's that important.
- 12:06Well, with that I really have covered the subject,
- 12:10but you don't want to go home yet
- 12:13so I'll go a little bit more into it.
- 12:18You know there are many rules, of course.
- 12:20It's a very complex subject of how to do it
- 12:23and all that sort of thing. But if you keep in mind
- 12:27what the purpose of it all is
- 12:29and how we have to learn to get along with others.
- 12:34And you know,
- 12:35not everybody in this world
- 12:37is on the same level of understanding and behavior.
- 12:42And so you come in contact with people who are
- 12:45somewhat, you know,
- 12:50shall I say "off"?
- 12:53And some of them are really badly off,
- 12:56and so it's very difficult to
- 12:59always be in peace and always get along.
- 13:02And even with devotees — I'll talk about that, too.
- 13:07So, I want to read a letter that was written some time ago
- 13:10by Daya Mata, our President.
- 13:13She said, "Our daily associations with people
- 13:17play an important part in our quest for God."
- 13:22And there it comes again: they see the relationship between
- 13:26our dealing with people
- 13:28and the goal of God — God-realization.
- 13:34"Sometimes devotees," she said,
- 13:35"Sometimes devotees feel they would find God more easily
- 13:39if they lived in undisturbed solitude.
- 13:43But it is very difficult to find God by yourself.
- 13:48Why? Because wherever you go
- 13:51you take all your limitations
- 13:53and your habits and your moods.
- 13:58And when there is no opposition,
- 14:01there is no impetus to change.
- 14:06Unchallenged, the ego reigns supreme
- 14:11and you remain the same.
- 14:14And generally,
- 14:16it is only through our daily interaction with others
- 14:20that character flaws are exposed.
- 14:24Our undesirable traits meet with resistance
- 14:27or are heightened by trying circumstances.
- 14:32We are then forced to recognize and overcome
- 14:36our imperfections.
- 14:40Being thrown in with many different personalities
- 14:44serves like a pumice to rub away the delusion
- 14:48encrusting our souls.
- 14:51The necessity to adjust and improve
- 14:55hastens our spiritual growth.”
- 15:00Now, this is always, of course,
- 15:04conditioned by whether we are willing to change.
- 15:09Usually the attitude is,
- 15:10everybody else has to change — I'm okay.
- 15:14And as long as we have that attitude,
- 15:16we are not going to change.
- 15:19We have to change, regardless of the other people.
- 15:24And then she said, "It is not possible to be happy in the narrow confines
- 15:28of a self-centered existence.
- 15:32To live in peace and harmony in this world
- 15:34we have to be thoughtful of others."
- 15:36These are the main keys — to be thoughtful of others.
- 15:42"And when we are,
- 15:43we open the doors to greater understanding and fulfillment.
- 15:49We have been placed here to reunite with God,
- 15:53to get beyond duality by loving Him unconditionally."
- 16:00And now, whether a person's behavior is good or bad,
- 16:04friendly or unfriendly,
- 16:06his soul is still essentially a part of God.
- 16:11God is just behind every finite form.
- 16:16The devotee who ceases to think of self and endeavors only to please God,
- 16:22beholding Him in all,
- 16:24swiftly reaches His eternal embrace.
- 16:30And here we have another thought.
- 16:32First one is, to be thoughtful of others.
- 16:35The other thought is, beholding Him in all meaning —
- 16:40as it says in the Gita:
- 16:43God speaking, "I am the Self in all beings."
- 16:48That's another thought which helps.
- 16:51So, you know, the whole thing is a very interesting subject, isn't it?
- 16:56And it's a hard subject, maybe —
- 16:59to learn to get along with everybody, even with devotees,
- 17:03you know, even here in the temple.
- 17:05You come here for services, you come here for meditations and
- 17:10once in a while we have some special events
- 17:13— some social thing — like we had the banquet the other day.
- 17:17This is not just to have socials.
- 17:21Maybe you have noticed that; maybe you have not noticed that.
- 17:24This is also spiritual training.
- 17:26This is now not just the spiritual training in meditation
- 17:29and listening to Master's teachings, but
- 17:33to learn to get along with others.
- 17:37Now, when we had the banquet for instance,
- 17:39maybe you were not aware of it,
- 17:41there were about sixty people involved to put that banquet on.
- 17:45Do you realize that?
- 17:48And in planning, making the decorations,
- 17:53cooking the food, and serving, and the whole setup,
- 17:57and then cleaning afterwards and all that sort of thing
- 18:00— about sixty people.
- 18:02And they did a wonderful job.
- 18:05But, it is training;
- 18:08it is training of the devotees.
- 18:12And even though they are devotees, you know, the Master used to say,
- 18:16"I do not attract weaklings. I attract strong people."
- 18:22Now, if you have a couple strong people
- 18:24and they have different opinions about how a thing should be done,
- 18:29most likely sparks fly, right?
- 18:32And so we have to understand, we have to give in a little bit.
- 18:37There has to be give and take
- 18:39and there has to be harmony because that's the most important thing.
- 18:42It is spiritual training.
- 18:44When you come here, when we have some special event
- 18:47or when you come here as we had yesterday
- 18:49in helping, serving here at the temple,
- 18:52and maintenance and cleaning and all that sort of thing,
- 18:56it's all spiritual training.
- 18:59All spiritual training. It's all part of it.
- 19:06Now. We talked sometimes about
- 19:11people who had the experience of what they call
- 19:15near-death experience — clinical deaths —
- 19:18person who died, left the body and was revived again and came back.
- 19:24Some of them had, usually it doesn't happen that way,
- 19:28but some of them had some deeper insight through that experience —
- 19:32that they had a glimpse of a larger perspective
- 19:39and they saw what is involved
- 19:42in certain relationships they have in this life now.
- 19:48There was one man who said,
- 19:49"My father and I have been working on this relationship
- 19:54in several past lives and we have still not cleaned it up."
- 20:02Another one said, "My mother was my mother in a past life
- 20:06and I didn't like her then either."
- 20:11And another one said, "My father was a person in a past life
- 20:15whom I treated cruelly."
- 20:21And so this is very interesting thing because,
- 20:27you know, those that are close to us, that we love,
- 20:31love is a very powerful magnet.
- 20:34Automatically we are drawn again together
- 20:38in the future if we have to come back.
- 20:42But if there is trouble with another person
- 20:46and we have not learned our lesson yet,
- 20:50those people are drawn to us again in order for us to learn.
- 20:54We may not yet be able to straighten out the other person.
- 20:58That is not our job.
- 21:01Our job is that we learn.
- 21:06And when we have learned our lessons, then we are free to go.
- 21:11So both is necessary. It is not just a deep desire for God,
- 21:15and a deep love for God and meditation,
- 21:18the other one is also a necessity —
- 21:21to learn how to get along,
- 21:24how to live in peace with other people.
- 21:30And so, you know, we have to learn. I want to read to you.
- 21:35This is from a family counselor
- 21:38who conducted a weekend workshop for a group of married people
- 21:43who had trouble with their marriages.
- 21:46And he wrote afterwards:
- 21:49"During that workshop, I heard one of the members —
- 21:52man state that the purpose and function of his wife
- 21:57was to keep their home neat and him well-fed."
- 22:04And he said, "I was aghast
- 22:06at what seemed to me his painfully blatant chauvinism.
- 22:13I thought I might demonstrate this to him
- 22:15by asking the other members of the group to state
- 22:17how they perceived the purpose and function of their spouses.
- 22:23To my horror,
- 22:28the others — male and female alike —
- 22:35gave very similar answers.
- 22:40All of them defined the purpose and function
- 22:42of their husbands or wives in reference to themselves.
- 22:49All of them failed to perceive
- 22:52that their mates might have an existence
- 22:55basically separate from their own,
- 22:58or any kind of destiny apart from their marriage."
- 23:04Isn't that amazing?
- 23:06And the Master said to us many times in his services.
- 23:10He said, "God has given us family in order to overcome selfishness,
- 23:15to include others, to not to think of just self,
- 23:20but to think of what is best for the other person.
- 23:23How can I help? How to be thoughtful."
- 23:27And so then the family counselor said,
- 23:30"'Good grief, it's no wonder
- 23:32that you all have difficulties with your marriages.'
- 23:36And the group not only felt chastised
- 23:38but profoundly confused by what I said.
- 23:42And somewhat belligerently they asked me to define
- 23:44the purpose and function of my wife.
- 23:48And I said, `The purpose and function of her is to grow to be the most
- 23:54in which she is capable, not for my benefit,
- 23:58but for her own.'"
- 24:01And so this is what the Master says, "We have to
- 24:04learn to think of others, to be thoughtful of others."
- 24:09And here's another point now: Paramahansa Yogananda said,
- 24:13"A man who cannot get along with others
- 24:15is one who does not get along with himself."
- 24:19Now sometimes I have seen people
- 24:21who may have difficulties personally,
- 24:25may be very loving, very kind to others.
- 24:27But generally speaking, it is when we are down in the dumps,
- 24:31we see everything wrong.
- 24:34And just the other day I had a talk with one of the young novices,
- 24:39and he asked me, he said,
- 24:40"You know if I see something wrong in another monk,
- 24:44is it okay for me to tell him what's wrong?"
- 24:48I said, "Well, it's better to leave this up to his counselor."
- 24:55He said, "Yeah, but if I see something wrong I really feel like telling him."
- 25:01I said, "Why don't you send a note to his counselor."
- 25:07And then I told him a story. I said there were a couple monks
- 25:10who went to the Master complaining about another one.
- 25:13And Master patiently listened and when they were finished he said,
- 25:18"Change yourself."
- 25:23And then the monk said, "You know it is true.
- 25:26When I feel good, everything is okay.
- 25:32And when I'm down, I want to criticize everybody."
- 25:38I said, "Yes, that is a reflection of your own consciousness."
- 25:43And so the basic thing is, we have to work on ourselves.
- 25:49There was a couple.
- 25:52They had been married for twenty years, and finally they came to the conclusion
- 25:56they could not live together any more.
- 25:58They had to get a divorce. So they went to a professional counselor,
- 26:02not to get any counseling for marriage, because they had decided to divorce,
- 26:07but they wanted him to help them
- 26:09to get through their divorce so that it would be easier.
- 26:13And he listened to them and he said, "Now, I want you to go home
- 26:16and both of you, you ask yourself,
- 26:20'What it is it like to be married to me?'"
- 26:25And they said, "Well we don't want to do that. We have already decided
- 26:28we cannot live together anymore. We have to get a divorce."
- 26:30And he said, "No, you go home and you ask that question."
- 26:36So reluctantly they said, "All right, we'll do that."
- 26:40And they did.
- 26:43"What it is like to be married to me?"
- 26:46And they both came to the conclusion, "Ahhh!
- 26:55I have to change."
- 26:58And they really recognized:
- 27:01"I have to change. I have work to do on myself."
- 27:07And after some time that counselor called them and said,
- 27:10"What about the divorce?"
- 27:11And they said, "We don't want to get a divorce."
- 27:15"Our marriage is getting better all the time."
- 27:19Now, that doesn't apply only to marriage, you know.
- 27:22That can apply to the work place and wherever we are
- 27:25where we have to deal with people asking ourselves,
- 27:28"What is it like to be working with me?"
- 27:34"What is it like to be in my company?"
- 27:38And really sincerely asking those questions.
- 27:42And the Master said, you know, this is not just for our own sake.
- 27:47This has to do with world conditions.
- 27:52It is the inner harmony of the individual human souls
- 27:55who comprise the various nations and the social structures in them
- 28:00that will bring peace to man and to this world.
- 28:09Now, there's another point.
- 28:14I come back to this again, to this basic thought
- 28:17— be thoughtful of others.
- 28:20Paramahansa Yogananda said, "Consideration for others
- 28:23is a most wonderful quality.
- 28:26It is the greatest attractiveness you can have.
- 28:30Practice it.
- 28:32A thoughtful person anticipates other people's needs.
- 28:39A considerate person when in the company of others,
- 28:43will have an intuitive awareness of their needs."
- 28:47And that is again, the basic thought is
- 28:52to go beyond being self-centered,
- 28:56to include others and think in terms of other people.
- 29:03There's a nice story about St.Therese of Lisieux,
- 29:08who, in a convent,
- 29:14she had received some flowers and she was decorating the altar,
- 29:18and they were artificial flowers because there was a crabby old nun in that convent
- 29:23who had an allergy,
- 29:25and she always made a big fuss when somebody brought in fresh flowers,
- 29:29because she said that those flowers are aggravating her allergy.
- 29:35And so as St.Therese was decorating that altar,
- 29:40that crabby old nun came by and
- 29:43she just was getting ready, full force,
- 29:47tongue-lashing to that young nun.
- 29:51And St. Therese immediately run to her
- 29:55and said, "Look, Sister, look at those flowers; they are artificial.
- 29:59Isn't it wonderful that people can make such beautiful flowers.
- 30:03They look just like real ones."
- 30:07And you know, it's just a little story.
- 30:10It's just a little indication, but it is:
- 30:13how many people would do that?
- 30:16They would let that old crabby nun spill it all out
- 30:20and then say, "Hah-ha, these flowers are artificial."
- 30:30But she didn't.
- 30:32She was considerate
- 30:37so that the other one wouldn't lose face.
- 30:40And so, you never know.
- 30:42I remember, I’ve never forgotten that.
- 30:44It was in the very beginning when I was a minister.
- 30:49I was serving at the Hollywood Temple at that time.
- 30:53That was about — feels about like six hundred years ago.
- 30:58But anyway, one day after Sunday service,
- 31:01a lady came to see me and she said, "I want to talk to you."
- 31:06I said, "All right."
- 31:10Now, I didn't know her then but she told me
- 31:13who she was and she showed me all kinds of
- 31:15pamphlets and magazine articles about her.
- 31:18She was a movie actress, you know.
- 31:22Beautiful woman, proud, arrogant as can be.
- 31:26I thought, "Why does she come to see me?"
- 31:30And then she talked about the big projects that she was going to work on
- 31:34and all that sort of thing — I, I, I.
- 31:36And I listened, "What is this?"
- 31:42And so, then I cracked open that shell
- 31:47I wanted to see what's behind it.
- 31:51And I had the surprise of my life.
- 31:55She said, "You know, I am only human.
- 32:00And everybody comes to me for help, for encouragement, for support,
- 32:07and nobody thinks about me."
- 32:11She said, "I'm a very lonely person.
- 32:14And I'm only human.
- 32:16I have nobody that I can talk to."
- 32:20And then she broke down and cried like a baby.
- 32:24And so it is; we are judging very often.
- 32:27We are judging people by the outer shell, isn't it?
- 32:34And we have to feel, that's why the Master says,
- 32:37"Intuitive awareness of others, of their needs."
- 32:42And very often you'll find that people who really have a
- 32:48shell of security and have it all made and all that sort of thing,
- 32:55and it's not that way at all.
- 32:58You just feel — just think, it doesn't even have to be talk, you know.
- 33:02It can be just a good thought — just a prayer, a simple prayer
- 33:08— just visualizing the person to be in the light of God.
- 33:14That helps.
- 33:16It helps them; it helps us.
- 33:22Now, I want to tell you what Paramahansa Yogananda
- 33:25— what instructions he gave to
- 33:29one of the nuns, Meera Mata, at that time.
- 33:32In the 40's he started a little cafe in Encinitas.
- 33:36It was right there at the highway
- 33:38— that main road there now that used to be the highway.
- 33:43And he did this in order to
- 33:46get people acquainted with the teaching there,
- 33:48because they had free literature on the table.
- 33:51And he also wanted to show people that
- 33:55they won't die if they don't have meat every day
- 33:58— twice or three times.
- 34:00So instead of having hamburgers,
- 34:03he introduced mushroom burgers.
- 34:06And in those days we didn't have many people who
- 34:09were willing to serve the work.
- 34:14And so this is the instruction that the Master gave to Meera Mata,
- 34:19who was in charge of those few people who were serving then.
- 34:22He said, "Work with their virtues
- 34:27and with the best they have within them.
- 34:31Expect nothing."
- 34:35Isn't amazing?
- 34:37Expect nothing from them.
- 34:42"But be grateful for all they do and all they give."
- 34:48And that's a Master speaking.
- 34:53Expect nothing,
- 34:56but work with their good points; work with their virtues,
- 35:01and be grateful for everything they do.
- 35:07And that is, you know, that is the perfection of a Master.
- 35:12And it is exactly like that.
- 35:15You know, remember the story
- 35:17in the Autobiography of a Yogi when the Master was a young boy and
- 35:21he had been just a few months
- 35:22in the hermitage of Sri Yukteswar and then he left.
- 35:25He wanted to go to the Himalayas and then a few days later he came back
- 35:29and he said to Sri Yukteswar,
- 35:31"I expected you to be angry because I left,
- 35:34and I left all my duties and so on."
- 35:38And Sri Yukteswarji said, "No, I'm not angry.
- 35:41I do not expect anything from others.
- 35:45Therefore their actions cannot be contrary to wishes of mine.
- 35:52I am only happy in your own true happiness."
- 35:56Same thing.
- 35:59Same thing.
- 36:02But that's hard.
- 36:05But that is going beyond the ego,
- 36:10including others, and thinking about others,
- 36:14expecting nothing, but giving.
- 36:21And you know, I have seen this, how people are
- 36:25bringing that attitude — their attitude — towards other people
- 36:29into their relationship with God.
- 36:32And I've seen it again and again and again.
- 36:35People are saying, "I want this.
- 36:37I want that.
- 36:39Give me this; give me that."
- 36:45But eventually we have to change. We have to turn it around, isn't it?
- 36:57There is a saint who said, "To begin the spiritual path
- 37:04with a resolution to walk in the way of the cross
- 37:12from the very first,
- 37:14and not to desire any sweetness at all,"
- 37:17meaning no consolations, no big experiences and all that sort of thing,
- 37:22"such a person has nothing to fear,
- 37:26because there is the visible beginning of a love for God,
- 37:31utterly divested of all self-interest."
- 37:39And that is again:
- 37:40the ego is gone, you give,
- 37:44you make the effort
- 37:48and you are wide open then
- 37:51for His grace and for His blessings to come.
- 37:54Wide open.
- 37:58So many times I have seen this.
- 37:59In meditation people are thinking in terms of, "What do I get?"
- 38:03Isn't it?
- 38:05And the whole concentration is on self.
- 38:11And then we get exactly what we are concentrating on
- 38:14— namely, ego consciousness.
- 38:16Nothing more.
- 38:20And so you see it from this now:
- 38:23The greatest discipline is meditation.
- 38:26And that means meditation; that means concentration on God,
- 38:32not asking for anything.
- 38:35And the other discipline is:
- 38:37how to get along with others — meaning, becoming unselfish,
- 38:41thinking of the other person, peace.
- 38:47And overcoming selfishness, and that,
- 38:49the moment we have achieved that,
- 38:54we are getting our diploma and we have passed school.
- 39:01Finished; we can go home.
- 39:07So this is a wonderful subject in order to think about it
- 39:12and to keep in mind and to practice.
- 39:16Because as I said, it is intimately linked
- 39:21to the path of God — intimately linked.
- 39:34Let us pray.
- 39:36Beloved God,
- 39:38may Thy love shine forever
- 39:42on the altar of our devotion,
- 39:46and may we be able
- 39:48to awaken Thy love in all hearts.
- 39:54Aum.
- 39:56Peace.
- 39:57Amen.
- 39:59God bless you all.
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