Yukti - Clarity🔗

Sometimes, people ask me, 'Both are suffocating. What to do, Swamiji? When I am sleeping, it is nightmarish. When I am awake, it is suffocating. What to do?' Now you need clarity, yukti to understand however you change, whatever you change, the whole thing is a dream.

Let me explain little more deeply. Shakti to change whatever can be changed means fighting with the outer world. Buddhi to accept whatever need not be changed means fighting with the inner world. Look inside, all your fight to accept is fight with the inner world. Whether you are going to change the outer world or change the inner world, both are just one more dream.

Please understand, it is a higher level truth. Just look inside your whole life. It is like in the dream, you got a job and you saved money little by little every month and bought a home. You got a new car, you got everything by saving little by little, and you are almost ready to live everything. And suddenly you wake up! What is the value of that house, car, money and everything? No value!

Please understand, your life is the same.

You struggle, and create so many things. In India, these kids will play games with small wooden idols. They will all be of the same size and same height. There will be no difference in any carving. These kids will put a red cloth on that idol and they will call it 'mother'. Then they will put a white cloth like a dhoti on another doll and call it 'father'. They will put a small pair of trousers on a third idol and call it 'brother'. They will put a small skirt on a fourth idol and call it 'sister'. They will then play; they will put the father doll in the car and make the sound of a car driving 'dree..' as if the father is going to office. They will put the mother doll in the kitchen and create sounds like cutting vegetables, 'tak', 'tak'. They will say sister is going to school, put the doll in the small bicycle and they will make the bicycle bell sound, 'tring', 'tring' and then take the doll to school. They will say, brother is crying, and make sound, 'ain, ain'. They will live the whole family life with the dolls.

Please understand, we are doing the same thing. We catch somebody and say 'husband'; we catch somebody and say 'wife'. We catch somebody and say 'son', 'daughter', 'friend', 'cousin', 'niece'; you have your own game.

Sometimes I have seen those kids, if the toy is not cooperating or they are not able to handle the toy, they will say, 'It is a bad toy' and throw it. It is the same thing in your relationships. If your script is not enacted, if you don't get what you are going after, if things don't happen your way, you say, 'bad relationship' and throw it away!

Understand, you come down and catch all these relationships and create a small place for yourself. You create a small fence and slowly, slowly you try to expand that fence. By the time the fence is ready and the relationships are ready, life is over! Again you take birth, you come down and create one more fence. By the time you try to expand your fence, expand your relationships, you are old, life is over. Yama, the lord of death, takes you away. See the same thing again and again and again happening!

However much you try to change things in the outer world and however much you try to accept things and bring peace in the inner world, the whole thing is one more dream. If you awaken from this, the whole thing is of no use, whether it is fighting with the outer world or inner world.

See, trying to accept is also fight with the inner world. People come and tell me, ‘I am not able to accept. What to do, Swamiji?’ I tell them, accept that you are not able to accept; it is one more acceptance. At least accept that you are not able to accept.

You go through some experiences. By the time you are ready to live with all your experiences, life is over! It is like first you touch the cigarette fire and fear that cigarette fire can burn. Then you experience the matchbox fire and that fire burns. Then you experience the oven fire, ‘Oh, oven fire will burn.’ By the time they touch every kind of fire and experience that all kinds of fire burn, the body is ready to be burnt! This is what I call learning through experience.

There is another kind of learning. The first time when you touch any one kind of fire and get burnt, you realize that all kinds of fire will burn - this is what I call living enlightenment, jeevan mukti. It is realizing the truths and learning the lessons from one or two experiences.

There is a third kind of people, they don’t even need to touch the fire. Just by seeing somebody else touching the fire and getting burnt, they will be awakened, ‘O God! All kinds of fire burn for all human beings.’ Such a person is called a Paramahamsa - awakened just by seeing the other person.

Many times, people ask me, ‘Swamiji, how do you describe all the family fights and struggles so exactly? You never lived a family life! From the young age, you have been a swami. How do you describe so thoroughly?’ I tell them, I may not have lived, but I have seen people living. I may not know the exact incident but I know the mental setup from which the incidents are erupting out. I may not know which switch will work for a particular light but I know the whole circuit, how it happens.

So understand, the things which are happening outside you and inside you, things which are happening in the outer world and in the inner world, the WHOLE thing, is a dream. Understand, the whole thing is a dream, including you being here.

There is no scale to say what is happening now is not your dream. People say, ‘No, no, no, I am seeing what I see now. The other person next to me is also seeing the same thing. With that I can say it is not a dream.’ No.

Understand this example. You may be seeing something, the person next to you may also be seeing the same thing. That does not mean this is not a dream. Because in the dream, sometimes you dream you have gone to India with your wife. In the dream you are there, your wife is there. Both of you will be looking at the same India. Just because the scene which you are seeing in the dream is seen by you and your wife who is also part of a dream, you can’t say that scene is reality.

Understand, now just because the person next to you is seeing the same thing, you can’t say the scene is reality because the next person also can be part of the same dream. You can feel the next person can also be part of your dream only when you are out of the dream. Only when you wake up, you know it was a dream. In the same way, only when you raise your consciousness from this state, you know it might have been a dream. Not might, it is a dream!

So remembering whatever is happening inside and outside is dream, that clarity is what I call yukti. Please understand, however much you fight, whatever you may do in the outer world or in the inner world, it is nothing but one more long dream.

People ask me, ‘If I think everything is a dream, will I not drop all efforts to develop my life? Will I not become lazy? Will I not become dull? Will I not become immoral? I may not not go to work; I may not take care of my family. Who will pay my bills? Who will take care of my car and apartment?’ No. Nothing will happen. Relax. Actually when you understand the whole thing is a dream, you will become tremendously energetic, intelligent to handle the dream in the way in which you want, to play the whole game in the way in which you want.

People have this big problem, this big fear. Understand, if you think that this will make you lazy, just simply try to lie down and relax with these ideas. How many days can you just be lying down? How many days do you think you will be sleeping? Not more than few days. Your innate energy will not let you lie down as lazy.

These truths can only remove unnecessary restlessness, they can never make you lazy. When you assimilate these great truths, only the unnecessary restlessness which is now a part of you will be removed. The necessary energy or activeness will never be removed. You will be active and alive. You will continue to take care of your car, your house, your family, your relationships, your bank balance and everything. Only thing, your depression and irritation will be missing.

Understand this one truth that whatever is, is just changing; whatever you think as reality is just changing. This clarity will save you from many sufferings. Tremendous inner healing will happen this moment in you.

For example, say you have some nightmare like a tiger chasing you, snake chasing you, or you being imprisoned, or you losing your near and dear ones. You suddenly wake up and what kind of relief you feel, ‘Oh God! It is all a dream!’ How relieved you feel! That feeling of intense relief or relaxation or inner healing can happen in you this very moment, from this life.

Understand, in whatever you are going through now, suddenly if somebody tells you, or you realize it is just a dream, what will happen? You will feel, ‘Oh God! What tremendous relaxation, what tremendous inner healing!’

You will never become lazy. The idea or truth that everything is an illusion is told to you to show you that you have the power to change anything. It is not so that you can just lie down in your bed!

Lazy people are not that intelligent to understand this whole thing is a dream. They may be using this argument whenever they want to justify their laziness. In India, I have seen in the villages, till 10 o’clock in the morning, people will be sitting in the teashop. They don’t have the concept of weekend because the whole life is weekend! Till 10 o’clock they will be sitting. If you ask, ‘What are you doing?’ they will say, ‘Everything is illusion. Everything is maya.’ They may use these ideas to justify their laziness. That does not mean they understood. Actually if you understand everything is one more dream, suddenly you will see so much of energy is awakened inside you. You are out of your negativity. You are living in a different zone, you are raised to a different consciousness. You will know how to handle, manipulate what you call as life.

If you know this whole thing is a dream, you can easily alter the dreams. You can play with the dreams. You can dream what you want. You can create what you want. You can express what you want. You can live as you want. Only one thing, if you realize this whole thing is a dream, you will not carry the stress and constant irritation which you are carrying continuously now.

See your life, from morning till night, from the moment you are out of bed till you fall asleep, the constant irritation which you are carrying. You are just waiting to jump on people. People don't have to do any mistake in front of you. Even if they keep a simple glass on the table a little loudly, just that tap sound is enough. Sometimes they don't even have to do that. If they just appear in front of you, they will have your blessing! You start shouting for no reason. You are just waiting, you are like a loaded gun just waiting to be triggered.

All you need to understand is, if you remember this whole thing is one more dream, the tremendous inner healing starts happening inside you. A tremendous coolness starts happening inside you. A peace, a deep rest happens inside you; it will awaken so much of energy and joy you will see you will be just overflowing, bubbling.

I can say, the chronic fatigue will disappear. One of the biggest enemies you carry in your life is the chronic fatigue. Whether you want to change something in the outer world or you want to change something in the inner world, that chronic fatigue always holds you.

If you want to change some habit in the outer world, you face the tiredness, ‘O, who will change? It is ok.’ If you want to change something in the inner world, again a deep fatigue, ‘No, no. Who will change it? It is ok, leave it. What can be done? This is life.’ That chronic fatigue is the ultimate enemy of your life. I can say, that is the worst conspiracy done to your being by your own being.

See, the truth is paradox. If you remember the whole thing is dream, suddenly you will be awakened to the energy to change the whole thing, to play with the whole thing. If you think the whole thing is real, you will be constantly carrying the laziness, the fatigue. That chronic fatigue is the worst thing you do to yourself. You come out of that chronic fatigue by remembering that this whole thing is a dream.

Try just for the next 11 days. Whenever you can, remember that this whole thing is a dream. You going to the office, eating, sleeping, talking, your relationships, your bank balance, your house, whole thing. Don’t have any fear, nothing wrong will happen. Just remember this one truth constantly, this whole thing is a dream. Suddenly you will see the transformation starts happening inside you.

Please understand, when I tell you something, I am responsible for it. I am responsible for what I am teaching. I worked with this idea not only inside me, but also with millions of my disciples who are from various backgrounds in wealth or health or education, all kinds of backgrounds. It does only good, this one concept of remembering this whole thing is one more dream. Suddenly the way in which you decide things, your mental setup, your ideas about pleasure, your ideas about pain, your ideas about fear, your ideas about life, your ideas about relationships, your ideas about money, your ideas about wealth, your ideas about health, everything will change.

Living with this one truth constantly in your inner space is what I call living enlightenment. Whatever may happen inside you, outside you, remember the whole thing is a dream. We will internalize this truth through meditation and through initiation.

If you are suffering in dream and in waking state, this is the ultimate solution. You can see in your life, you don't feel inspired to move your body, to do something creative, to be alive. Not only at the physical level, this is true even at the mental level. Within five minutes of doing something, you are tuned off. It means your mind doesn't want to do the cognition process.

The cognition, receiving the ideas, digesting them, internalizing them, classifying them, and keeping them for the future - you are tired to do that cognition process.

Please understand, the truth that the whole thing is a dream will be like a sun, it will take away all the clouds inside your being. Tiredness to do the cognition, and tiredness to be alive is like a cloud covering your being.

I tell you, even your physical health will become so sharp, so alive, if you remember the whole thing is a dream.

It may look paradoxical, 'How can it be? If I am supposed to remember the whole thing is a dream, I am only supposed to become more and more lazy, more and more tired, more and more not interested in things.' It will not be. I tell you, because I have practiced. It is my experience.

When you remember the whole thing is a dream, suddenly you will see the negative points which are protruding in your inner space, will suddenly start getting healed. Those things will start dropping. The negative ideas you have about you and about life, all those things will start getting healed. It will all get dissolved inside your inner space. Your idea about you and the world, the whole thing will melt down.

You exist not as a body or as a mind or as somebody. You exist as you. You carry identities of yourself with which you connect. In Sanskrit they are called upaadhis. Upaadhi has two meanings: one is the identification and the second is disease.

In Sanskrit, the word has two meanings: identification and disease. The very language is designed for enlightenment. The very language is designed to express enlightenment. You cannot translate many of the words. I can only express the concepts.

See the idea, any identity is disease! With this one word upaadhi, they tell you very clearly any identity you have is a disease. By giving the same word for both the meanings, they say try to get rid of it.

You have two identities. One is the identity which you show to the outer world as you. It will always be more than what you are. Your visiting card will be always more than what you are. You will be constantly going around, 'Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am?' This is ahankaar. It will be always more than what you are.

Second identity is what you believe as you inside your mind. That is mamakaar. It will always be lower than what you are; it is inferiority complex. That is why constantly you are torturing yourself; you are trying to develop yourself.

The identity which you show to the outer world is always more than what you are. The identity which you show to the inner world, what you believe as you, is always less than what you are. You are constantly trying to chisel and develop your identity. The fight between these two identities is life.

Your whole life is nothing but the fight between these two identities. The fight between the identity which you believe as you in the inner world and the identity which you project to the outer world, is what your life is.

If you remember the whole thing is one more dream, suddenly the whole conflict disappears. The identity which you show to the outer world is also a dream, illusion. The identity which you believe as you in the inner world is also a dream, illusion. Suddenly you are out of the dream. You wake up, you are out!

The fight is not there anymore. Constantly you trying to chisel yourself, torturing yourself, that is the main reason for all the sufferings and struggles and stress and conflicts you carry inside you. See the difference between what you show as you in the outer world, what you carry as you in the inner world!

The moment you close your eyes and sit in a room alone, the tears are just waiting, suffering is just waiting inside to come up. But when you come out, you wipe everything with a tissue paper, put a little makeup, put on a smiling face.

Sometimes in the developed civilization it becomes too much. The other day one of our devotees who is an elderly person, was telling me, ‘Swamiji, in this country we have to use all the makeup and look young because we have to compete with the youngsters.’ I can say that is the worst thing.

Fortunately that is not the case in the villages of India. The cities of India of course are no more the true India. They may be geographically India, but they don’t carry the spirit of India. In the Indian villages, the more you are aged, the more you are respected. They don’t have to compete with youngsters. But unfortunately in some civilizations, they have to constantly show an identity which is not themselves. They have to create that strong identity which is not them.

Remember, this whole thing is one more dream. Suddenly you will see you will have the tremendous relaxation inside you. The fight between these two identities stops. The war comes to an end instantly. Stop the war which is happening inside. That is the first thing you need to do for global peace.

Everybody is shouting about stopping the wars outside. But a big war is going on inside each of us. Look inside. We are afraid to look inside. That is why we look outside. We don’t sit with ourselves. Even if you get the time to sit with yourself, you sit with the television. Just yesterday I saw an article which says a middle class man in the USA sits an average of five and half hours in front of the television. I was shocked, five and half hours! More than 20% of his day!

It is because you can’t sit with yourself! I am not saying, don’t watch television. All I am saying is, do not sit with television because you can’t sit with yourself. Learn that art of just sitting with yourself. Learn how to sit with yourself. You can’t sit with yourself because the moment you sit with yourself, so much comes out from inside. So you want some entertainment, you want to sit with somebody.

If you remember the whole thing is a dream, what goes on inside you and outside you is a dream, this clarity will suddenly bring tremendous inner healing. The fight between you and you will stop. The fight between ahankaar and mamakaar, the identity which you show to the outer world and inner world, will stop. You will suddenly relax and rest. A new energy will be awakened inside you. The whole thing will relax, settle into your being, it will melt down and rest in your consciousness. This is what I call yukti, clarity.