41. 77. Foolishness

• No fool would call himself a fool. No one will even think so. There is only damage in this. There is no benefit.
• Same way, no wise person will call himself wise, nor would he think so. There is no harm or damage in this. There will certainly be benefit in doing so.
• Are you a person who has been harmed or are you a person who is benefited? You only have to examine and tell the result.
• Without taking into account one's own fitness and clarity, if one has a firm belief (knowingly or unknowingly) that 'I am wise', it is only from this seed of belief the thorny bush of 'foolishness' grows even without one's knowledge.

A post-graduate student presented a new and sensational research paper in the University. The entire audience listened to it with rapt attention. After the presentation was over, the entire hall itself reverberated with applause.

But the chief of faculty who was sitting in the front row was not at all moved by it.

On seeing the chief's face, when the student worriedly went there and asked him, 'Have I done well in my paper?' the chief said, 'This is pure plagiarism. Every word in this article has already appeared in another book. I cannot be deceived.'

The student was shaken due to shock. The reason: That article was out and out solely prepared by him. The student lost his sleep that night because the Master said, 'Tomorrow I will come with that book.'

Next day, the chief came and said, 'Open this and see' and gave him the book.

On opening it, the student was shocked. It was the Oxford dictionary.

• What is stated above is not an exaggerated story. It is the truth of the inner world.

• It is an example of foolishness raising its ugly head in the name of intelligence.

• Like the chief who snubbed the creative ability of the student, the foolishness of snubbing everybody and every thing should be found out. It should be dissolved. 'What Swamiji, the heading itself is rather negative?' – are you thinking this way...

What to do...

Some times truths have to be spoken loudly in public. I am going to touch the tumour present in the minds of many people for a long time. Some may feel the pain...

There is no other go. Let us treat that tumour at least now. Otherwise it will become fistulous day by day.

Those who get the thought, 'Is this article meant for me?' please continue to read on.

If you think, 'Oh! This article is not written for me.' Know it clearly then that this article is definitely for you.

• Remaining lazy without doing any thing constructive in life is surely foolishness.
• For that reason toiling without rest and earning endlessly is not wise either.

Life is only to live! It is not to die by earning continuously.

Here is a story of a doctor, who conforms to the above statement.

Dr. Moorg Mukund, he is a very famous surgeon and the HOD(Head of the Department) in a medical college. He owns a hospital with excellent modern facilities in the heart of a big city.

P.A. to Dr. Mukund was talking about the greatness of the doctor. He said, 'Our doctor holds an important post in the association. Two days in a week, he will be on tour attending conferences in other towns, visiting medical camps. Once in two months, he visits foreign countries. Other than this, his business, his estate...'

The moment I heard all this, only Vivekananda came to my mind. Once Vivekananda was taken to many important places and entertainment centers in America to show the most modern developments there.

Americans were waiting to hear in what way Vivekananda was going to appreciate all that.

Vivekananda said, 'One thing is clear on seeing that you have created so many entertainment and recreation centers and on seeing huge crowds of people coming to them, that you are all greatly disturbed mentally and are in sorrow'. By this statement, he made plain the condition of Americans.

Americans were amazed.

Vivekananda continued, 'If the people are not suffering from mental troubles and sorrows, and if they are happy, why at all should they come here in such huge crowds? Will not their own homes themselves be heavens?' he asked.

It is the same story in the case of Dr. Mukund also.

The recreational centers of the Americans are actually the colourful paints created to make them forget their lives which are devoid of happiness.

The extra-ordinarily busy life-style of Dr. Mukund is only a colourful painting to show him only as an achiever, duly hiding his unsteady and shallow life.

I asked the personal assistant to the doctor, 'Do you wish to live like your doctor in your next birth?'

The Personal assistant was hoping to impress me with the achievements of the doctor and was expecting a reply such as, 'Oh! Is it so? Is your Dr. Moorg Mukund such a great doctor?'

He hesitated and after thinking for a while, the Personal assistant said, 'No, no. It is not possible for me. I do not want such a life.'

I asked the Personal assistant, 'Why do you say this? What a great doctor he is! How much of property he owns! Whatever he thinks he can buy, he can achieve! Why you don't want such a nice life?'

He replied, 'No, you don't know. Whatever I said about him are all true. These are his achievements in the outer life only. In his personal life every thing is topsy-turvy.'

'What are you saying?' I asked.

The personal assistant continued, 'Yes. He is a disciplined man. Exactly at seven in the morning he will come to the hospital to see the patients. After seeing every one he would return home only at nine O'clock.

He will not stay in the house for even half an hour. Immediately he will pick up the cell phone in his hand and spend his time with the cell phone making business calls and calls related to property management. Then if he begins to see the out-patients it will go on up to 2 or 3 in the afternoon. Besides this, he has to go to medical college also twice in a week.

He will go home at 3 in the afternoon eat his food in a hurry and then lie down. As he is having B.P and diabetes, he cannot get up quickly. But as the duty calls, with great difficulty he will get up at half past four and when he comes to the hospital at 5 O' clock. After finishing surgery, it would be 10 or 11 in the night. Some days it may even be twelve in the night.

As soon as he reaches home, there will be just time enough for him to eat and sleep. Again, he has to be up at six in the morning. What life is this? For the last thirty years his life is going on in this manner. He does not get even an hour fully to speak lovingly to his wife. If his son wants to talk to his father, he has to come to the hospital, talk between the patients and go.

The number of days he has actually lived with his family can be easily counted on one's fingers as these are the days when once in two or three years he travels with his family to some far off place for 4 or 5 days.

There is no satisfaction at all in the family life either for himself or his wife or even for his sons who are studying abroad.

Without any satisfaction in life, simply going on earning money and fame and stacking it in a big way, what is the benefit and to who is the benefit?

Swamiji, I wish to live a happy and harmonious life along with my family only.

I do not wish to live a life with this profession and with money like him.

In my next life, if I am going to get a life similar to that of the doctor, then my present life which is many times more peaceful and less difficult, is itself much better', so saying the P.A. poured his feelings of pity and sympathy for the doctor.

I asked him, 'Are you able to understand fully that the life lived by the doctor is not a wise or pleasant one?'

He replied, 'Yes, I am able to understand that fully.'

'Because you are a spectator, you fully know about the difficulties of Dr.Moorg Mukund. Does the doctor know about himself to the extent you know about the doctor?' I asked.

He emphatically replied, 'No. Certainly he does not know.'

'When the doctor himself does not know about his own self, how is it that you know about yourself?' I asked.

I told him, 'You examine about yourself thoroughly.'

After a few minutes, having got upset, he started sweating and he said, 'Yes, surely I do not know about myself fully.'

Further, 'So far, on seeing people who suffer more than me, I have believed all along, that I am fine and I am living an intelligent life.' Accepting this truth, he started correcting himself.

Like this P.A., for many persons, other's foolishness is clearly visible but the truth about them alone is not visible or known.

Unless one gets enlightened some foolishness or the other will be sticking on to man.

Hasid Master Jumalki said, 'Even though we may be intelligent when it comes to some aspects of education, culture, society or religion, there will be some immature aspects that are very much present in us.'

If we do not have the satisfaction of having lived our life in all its fullness and totality, then from that itself, we can understand that we have not made use of the energy or power of intelligence given by God.

Each one is able to see the other's faults very clearly.

But one's own fault is not at all visible even in a dim manner.

Examine as to where that foolishness, which destroys and spoils away the satisfaction is hiding.

Consult and discuss with others.

Perhaps, like you, your relatives also may be intelligent persons in correctly pointing out the mistakes in others.

Start utilizing fully, the energy of intelligence given by God to experience and enjoy fully each and every incident in life and to live naturally.

Intelligence will begin to bubble up.

You will begin to live life with fulfillment to the extent of having lived satisfactorily.

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A meaningful incident.

Parents to the son:

'Tom is younger to you. But how is it that Tom continues to get higher marks than you always?'

The son replied, 'Tom's parents are intelligent.'

Are we intelligent to the extent that we believe?

Find the answer.

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Meditation chisels. Chisel No.32.

Doubt yourself. Let your mistakes be known to you also!

We do not believe that others are speaking the truth.

Reason: We do not speak the truth.

Because we believe that others are also like us, we mostly believe that others are speaking lies as though they are the truths.

You doubt everybody. You always view others with doubtful eyes. But you never look at yourself with doubtful eyes.

If you had done so even once, instead of finding the fault of others, you would have found out about yourself.

However much we take pains to explain to others in a detailed manner, others are not at all prepared to either correct themselves or even to listen to us.

They believe that they are intelligent and that they behave correctly.

They lose the opportunities to correct themselves. It is a great pity!

In the same way, will you not be continuously losing the opportunities to correct yourself too!!!

Once in a way, when we examine ourselves and when we find out some faults, instead of proceeding towards correcting them, we are drawn towards grief only. This is unnecessary.

So doubt yourself. Let the flaws of your character come to light.

Let your faults which were so far known to others only, hereafter be known to you too.

Towards others, there will always be an iota of doubt.

Turn the direction of arrow of doubt to point towards you.

Whenever a doubt is born, let those times of doubt become meditation times.

78. Welcome.

Rich man Kuljeeth, who was blind by birth, had fallen in love with a young girl. With joy, he described to his friend about his lover, her qualities, and her way of talking, her activities and interests.

Next day, he introduced his friend to his lover. After the meeting, Kuljeeth broke down on hearing the news from his friend.

'Kuljeeth, she is not as beautiful as you think. I think she is not suitable for you in any way.' The moment his friend said this, the lover who had so far lived like a queen in his mind, appeared no more to be that way. His love also shrank away.

• Life gives shocks as a gift, only to those who do not possess the good quality of 'welcoming'. For those who welcome whatever is given to them, life cannot give as gift, any thing else other than FORTUNES.

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• 'Whatever comes, let it come; Whatever has come, let it be there' Man may be able to just live possessing the above attitude. But he cannot celebrate his life joyfully. The reason is the absence of the quality of 'welcoming', which is the birth place of joy.
• 'Whatever comes is a boon, whatever has come is a fortune' Only if a person has such an attitude, he can celebrate life with joy.
• The bubbling nature of a child, the strength of a bold person, the clarity of a wise person. A man who possesses all three enthusiasms, strength and wisdom will have the quality of 'welcoming' life and all that comes with it, in him.

In short, the noble quality of 'welcoming' is living life with ease and comfort, duly understanding the subtlety that:

Nature naturally gifts us pleasure for our happiness; and pain for our growth.

Welcome with joy, each and every thing, the divine power has arranged and given to you. To say 'with joy' means, accept with total joyous feeling.

This is good luck; this is bad luck – all these things depend upon your mental point of view only.

Every second that makes you happy and joyful is the blessing of the divine energy.

Every second that makes you suffer is the practising ground for the next stage of happiness in your life.

The occurrence of joy in you depends upon how you welcome each and every incident.

One small story.

Three middle-aged persons traveled in a taxi towards the airport. The taxi driver got upset a little when in an unexpected turning a youngster riding a bike suddenly overtook the taxi.

The vehicles coming on the opposite direction were also affected a little. But without colliding against anybody, the youth maneuvered somehow and escaped nicely.

Unable to bear the tension caused on account of the above incident, one person traveling in the taxi shouted, 'Thick skinned idiot! What is the urgency? Why does he go like this? Having caused tension to so many people, how are people like this going to come up in life?'

The second friend said, 'All the present day youth are like this.'

The third friend said with a smile, 'Oh! How skillfully he is driving the bike? Even though he is riding so fast perhaps due to some emergency, he is skillfully driving the bike in an unexpected turning like this, without colliding against any vehicle!'

Same incident – has taken one person to the peak of irritation and another to the zenith of wonder. Whether you sow your anger or you smile when something happens depends upon the method of your approach and how you welcome it.

After reaching the airport, they got into the airplane. Half way through, that plane was hijacked. After 3 days, that hijacked plane was released.

The first friend said, 'Right from the time I started from home, I experienced bad omens only. A cat went across! A fool overtook on the left side! A lizard fell on my shoulder! When all these happened, then itself I knew some thing like this would happen.' Murmuring aloud like this, he left the airport and went away.

The second friend said, 'All are God's blessings. God has listened to my prayers and he has saved us'.

The third friend, without saying any thing, was walking with a smile on his face showing deep satisfaction.

On seeing him, the other two were surprised. 'How is it friend? Even now you are joyful!' they asked in surprise.

'Even though they had kept us as hostages for three days, they have let us out alive, without killing us. Every second I think about this, it feels so good that without dying a physical death, we have taken re-birth again.' He said with a smile.

The happening of joy in you will depend upon how you welcome each and every incident.

For the sake of working for livelihood, those three persons had gone to another town and taken a house on rent and were staying there. One day when they returned home from work, a big shock was awaiting them. For, the rental house in which they were living, had collapsed and fallen suddenly.

The first person said, 'I know, from the time we started, nothing went right. When I read the astrological forecast in the newspaper, it said that 'You will have to meet with lot of difficulties', then itself I knew that some thing like this was going to happen.' He was heart-broken and was going on murmuring and complaining.

The second person said, 'All is God's will. God is testing us. He is playing the game of hide and seek to change us as better people.' This way he talked some stale philosophy.

The third person was calm and composed and was all smiles. This kindled the anger of the other two.

'Why are you laughing like this at all places?' they asked with some irritation.

'Not at all, gentlemen! If our flight had not been hijacked the other day, we would have returned home three days back and when the house collapsed and fell, we would have been caught inside the house and we would have been killed' said the third person and he continued.

'Now as I thought whether I should express my gratitude to the hijacker or to God, automatically laughter came to me.' He said with a smile.

Your joy will depend upon how you welcome each and every incident.

If you are all the while in a state of grief, and feel irritated and disturbed, then it is for sure, that your way of welcoming is wrong only. It is enough if it is understood that all things which happen are gifts of God. Then automatically joy will fall in place within you.

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A meaningful incident.

Someone asked me, 'It is not at all possible for me to welcome and accept all things. Is my mind a stone? What can be done?'

I told him, 'Leave the worry. First of all accept that you are unable to accept.'

Next morning he said, 'Thank you very much. After accepting my inability to accept everything as it is, I feel very light as though I have unloaded a big burden off me.'

• Welcome your life, as it is. Accept it. You will get peace. Do it and see.

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Meditation chisels. Chisel No.33.

Do you like the rose for its beauty? Be prepared to accept its thorns too.

Do you love to be embraced? You must be prepared for some small pats and even for some frightening and rebuke also. Are you prepared? Think of it.

The reason for the 'loving period' of lovers being sweet always is that in those moments, the thorns of the rose do not hurt the heart at all.

It will only be pleasant and fine for the mind for the red rose to be drowned in love with white rose and vice versa.

This is the reason for any relationship being sweet in the beginning.

It is only when the thorn pricks, the infatuation clears off. It is only when we come to know of the bad qualities of our loved ones that our heart is stabbed and torn to pieces.

Grief drips down from the mind drop by drop.

If you have loved the rose very much, what is the point in hating its thorns alone? There is no rose without a thorn in this world. Why? Even you are a rose with thorns – your flaws. Is it not?

Love the rose with the thorns. That only is the real respect you give for the rose.

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