72. Responsibility is not seriousness - the world is just a dream

Being responsible does not mean becoming serious. Sincerity is different from seriousness. When you become serious, you are only feeding your ego. When you are sincere, you understand about life and do not attach undue importance to any one thing at the cost of something else. You are able to approach life with a youthful enthusiasm, with This whole world is merely a dream. You look at this world as reality because you have experienced it so.

spontaneity and innocence.

A child's world is full of, 'He took away my pencil!', 'He

hit me!'… 'She is not giving me my chocolate!' We all lived in this stage of our life before we grew up. How does it feel when you think back about this? It appears comical now, doesn't it? We laugh at how much we bothered for these little things!

Now, let's rewind to when we were five or six years old. At this age we may have fought for a geometry kit. When we were a few years younger, we fought for a pencil, and now we are fighting for the geometry kit. You grow up further. Now, if your best friend becomes very close to somebody else, you can't bear that! If we think back about this, we feel like laughing. If I ask the elderly people about the problems of youth, about relationships, the problem will now not appear to be of a serious nature. This is because they have passed that age. Just like this, there is a state that is beyond all these states. It is the state to experience bliss. It is an experience that goes beyond all the states of life.

Take another example: Say you get a shocking piece of news. Someone whom you loved has been murdered. Even when you learn this, how much grief and trouble you feel! You can't believe he is gone. You are crying uncontrollably. Suddenly your mother gives you a nudge and says, 'Wake up' and you wake up and realize, 'Oh god! That was only a dream!' Suddenly you are so relieved and relaxed! From this, we can understand a small technique for living life: 'When the dream disappears, peace is born.'

Shiva says, 'This whole world is merely a dream.' How many people can accept this? You look at this world as reality because you have experienced it so.

We can accept things only when we experience them. The things that we have not experienced, we are not able to accept. The only solution is to go within ourselves and experience that bliss.

In our youth, the problems of early childhood appear comical. In our old age, the problems of youth appear comical. When we realize the Ultimate, everything appears to be playful. You can play the game of life beautifully, completely neckdeep in it, yet be completely unaffected by it.

Trust and patience

I always tell people, 'Do not think you have a certain amount of energy and you will work according to that energy. No. Whatever work and responsibility you take up, the energy starts expressing accordingly. You will have energy according to the responsibilities which you take up. Whatever responsibility you take upon yourself, you will see that your inner space expands to that extent and energy flows through you!'

If you feel responsible for whatever is happening around you, you suddenly become a leader. You start transforming your life and others' lives. Responsibility is one of the ways to consciously grow.

You only need to do two things: trust that life is good and know that you can expand to the responsibilities that you take up.

Another thing, when that expansion happens, just hold on and have patience during the transformation process. Patience during the transformation process is what I call tapas or penance. There is a beautiful phrase of the teachings of Shirdi Sai Baba* : 'Shraddha Saburi' – trust and patience. This is the essence of life.

Trust that you can expand in your life and then you will expand for all the responsibilities and commitments you take up. Have patience when the expansion or the transformation is happening in your inner space. That's all.