Shakti - Energy To Change

First, changing whatever you can change. You express the energy or shakti to change whatever you can change in your life.

Please understand, spirituality is not a tamasic acceptance of life. Tamas means laziness and laziness is not spirituality. Many times, in Bharat, laziness is taken for spirituality. The Hindu civilization once stood for enlightenment; the whole country's infrastructure was built for enlightenment or jeevan mukti.

But somehow, in course of time, as Krishna said Yogo nashta parantapa: the yoga is lost, the great science is lost. When the science is lost, tamas is taken as enlightenment, and laziness becomes spirituality.

You have the energy to change whatever you can change in your life. People ask me, 'Swamiji, is life pre-destined or do we have a free will?'

Life is like a tape-recorder. If you don't intervene it will go on as pre-programmed. But if you have the will, you can intervene and change things at any point with simple effort. You don't need to make a strong sankalpa (affirmation). Just simple effort will do to get out of so many addictions and mental setups. I am not talking about major addictions like alcohol or smoking. I am talking about simple mental sufferings, the restlessness with which you continuously suffer, the constant irritation that you carry with you.

This constant irritation has become a habit. See, you don't need an incident to irritate you; you just wait to jump on people. They don't need to do anything wrong. They don't need to commit any mistake. If they just appear in front of you, it is

enough. They will have your blessing! You are just waiting to pounce on people! You are just boiling right from morning. Even this is an addiction. But all these can be changed. These simple things can be changed right away. All you need is understanding.

You may say, 'No Swamiji. I tried many times but I failed. It is not possible anymore.'

Please understand that previously during all the times when you actually tried to create peace, as long as your effort was there, there was peace. Once peace happened, you forgot to apply your efforts!

When you forgot, when you stopped applying your efforts, the restlessness returned. But then, you don't remember why and how it returned. You only know that your restlessness returned. Actually, you stopped your efforts, that is why the restlessness returned.

You may say, 'No Swamiji, yesterday morning I tried to be peaceful. But today I am not peaceful!'

Yesterday morning you tried to be peaceful, but by evening you forgot about being peaceful! You stopped putting your efforts and your restlessness returned. Whenever you put your effort there is a result. When you stop putting the effort, only then the mind goes back. You don't remember that point. You only remember when you started your efforts and not when you forgot about it. You let your mind wander and become restless.

So, please understand this important truth. Changing whatever you can change is shakti (energy). You have the energy to change whatever you can. There are so many things you can change in your life but you do not express the energy for it.

Let me narrate a real incident:

The other day a person came to me and said, 'Swamiji, I have surrendered myself to you. You have to save me.'

I asked him, 'What do you mean by surrender? And why do you want me to save you?'

He replied, 'Swamiji, I have a bad habit of going to wrong places. I am not faithful to my wife. Now that I have surrendered to you, you should help me stop this habit.'

I sat and spent some time with him. I told him, 'This is wrong. Why don't you think of your wife? You have become insensitive to love. It is disrespectful towards your relationship with your wife.' After a few words from me, he left.

He returned after a few weeks and said, 'Swamiji, you have not saved me at all! I surrendered myself to you. But I am still doing the same thing!'

I asked him, 'What do you mean?' He told me, 'No, I surrendered myself to you. But I am still the same old person.'

I asked him, 'What do you mean? You want me to hide your car keys and tell you not to go anywhere else? You have the independence! See, when you want the independence...freedom to live as you want...I can only give you the knowledge. It is you who needs to apply it in your life.'

Then I told him, 'What do you mean by using the word 'surrender'? And what do you mean by saying that I need to save you? If you want that extreme, then sit here itself, and don't go anywhere!'

Then you will say, 'No, no! I need freedom. I need freedom.' Then I have to tell, 'Alright! Have freedom, have this knowledge also, so that you can lead your life with knowledge.'

Actually you don't want knowledge. You want freedom. But when something goes wrong, you say, 'No, no! I have surrendered to this God; I have surrendered to that guru; yet nothing has happened!'

You have the freedom to change so many things in your life. Yet, you do not want to change them. You don't want to take up the responsibility. If you have the knowledge, you will use your freedom with intelligence. You will not look to misuse your freedom. You will take up responsibility for your life.

Understand that you are the God who can save you. It is you who is going to lift yourself. If you can't lift yourself then you are your worst enemy. If you can lift yourself, then you are your greatest friend. It is you who needs to do it.

So the first technique of living enlightenment or jeevan mukti is to express the energy to change whatever you need to change in your life.