Wake Up! – Part 1🔗

What is awakened state? And what is sleeping state

I welcome you all with my love and respects.

Today's topic is, 'Wake Up!' As soon as I said this, the next moment the question, which will come to our mind is, 'Does it mean that we are all sleeping?' Whether we accept it or not, or like it or not, the answer to this question is, Yes, we are all sleeping. May be the intensity of the sleep might have come down, but we are not truly, completely in the awakened state. May be its true that it is not as deep and intense as the sleep in the night, but we are not completely awakened. This is the truth.

What is the awakened state? And what is the sleeping state? When our common sense and our clear intelligence are not within our control, then we call that state as sleep. We cannot get into sleep by ourselfves. We can only fall into sleep. When our common sense and our thought flow is not in our control then that is the sleeping state. When our common sense is not in our control but if it still functions then that is the dream state. If it is not in our control and it is also not functioning then that is the deep sleep state. If common sense is not in our control, but it still functions, then that is called the dream state. In the dream state, our thought flow and our common sense will not be in our control, but, they will function. In the deep sleep state, it will not be in our control and it will not function also. But in the dream state, our common sense and our thought flow will function, but both are not in our control.

What is waking or the complete conscious state? When our common sense, our mind and our thought flow are in our control, then this is the waking state. Are these in our control? For this question, if we deeply search for the answer for this question, then we will know the answer, which is inevitably 'No'. We should understand this clearly, when our common sense, our mind and our thought flow are not in our control, then it means that we are not in awakened state. We are still in the dream state. May be we are at a dream state at a higher plane, not that much intensity as in the night. That's all. Sometimes if we see, when we dream we will know that we are dreaming. When we are dreaming, we will have the awareness that we are actually dreaming. Even if we are not in complete consciousness and awareness, we will have the awareness that we are dreaming. When we are not in the awakened state or in the conscious state, then we will not be in complete control of our common senses.

It is enough if we understand these basic few points. In deep sleep, our common sense will not be in our control and also it will not function. In dream state, our common sense will not be in our control, but still it will be functioning. A true waking state or awakened state is a state at which our mind, our common sense and our thought flow are in our control. In our lives if all three have not come under our control yet, then it means that we have not completely woken up. The complete awakened state has not yet happened in us. There is something called degree of consciousness to measure how much our mind and our thought flows have become straight. If our thoughts flow as per our wish and if it keeps our life in a joyful and blissful state then our consciousness will be at a higher plane. If our consciousness is in a higher plane and in a blissful state all the twenty-four hours, then, it means that we have all woken up. That's why, in Sanskrit (one of the oldest languages in India. Many of the hymns and songs in the olden days were sung in Sanskrit), there is a word called Jagrat. Jagrat means awakened state.

The word Jagrat is also used for describing the state of the enlightened people. Why is it called like that? It is because, when we have truly woken up, it means that we have attained the complete, whole, blissful and enlightened state. Only when we are not truly awakened, our life is full of sorrow and dullness.

Okay, then what is the way to wake up? What is actually happening in our lives? What are we going towards? Only when such kinds of questions of clarity are created in us, we come to the awakened state. We should understand this basic thing. We are living neither in a state at which we are awakened nor in a dream state, but we are living in a dull state.

If we see carefully our thoughts do not flow in a free and clear manner. Just deeply observe the mind. We will understand clearly that our mind will be functioning in the same setup, in the same way and in the same manner. It does not think anything new. It does not have direct approach. It does not run freely. Our mind itself will function like a tape recorder. In those days, there was the gramophone. When a needle is placed over the gramophone disk, it will keep rotating and playing. If there is any scratch over the disk then the gramophone will repeat the same line again and again. I had been to one of our devotee's house. He had an old gramophone record, we asked him to play the gramophone. The song in the disk kept playing the same line. The line was: Varavu yettana, varavu yettana, varavu yettana .....(Income eight paisa, Income eight paisa, Income eight paisa....) This is an old Tamil (One of the languages spoken by the Dravidians in South India) movie song. The gramophone kept repeating the same line because of the scratch. I told him: This seems to be a very good gramophone; this speaks only of income not about any expense! He replied: Master, we are really frustrated spending for this gramophone, hence we decided not to spend any more money on this.

An old gramophone plays the same line again and again, similarly, our mind has the same setup and acts in the same manner. If we observe our mind, we will understand this. We will understand how our mind functions in a pre-determined and fixed manner like the tape recorder. For example, when we are brushing our teeth in the morning , we worry about our office then when we are about to leave for work we worry about all the tensions in our office. After we go to work, we worry about teaching our son, his school lessons. When we are teaching our son, we worry about the provisions which have to be bought for our home. So once we are doing all the household related work, we worry about the next day's schedule.

Our mind will be used to this kind of mental setup and thus a mental habit will be formed. So when we are used to this kind of thinking pattern, then even on a Sunday, when we need not have to go to office, when we are brushing our teeth in the morning, automatically thoughts about our office come up. Even if we tell our mind: Don't worry about work now, today there is no office and you need not have to go to office today. The low mood or the depressive state which is present when we were in worry, will settle in our mind. Even if we ourselfves tell our mind that today is a holiday, since it is a mental habit to get worried, when the particular time comes, the mind automatically goes to a low mood and feels depressed.

After writing exams, getting the results, passing out, getting a job and getting married, after 5 years we dream that we have not written our exam. Or we dream that we have failed in the exam. It would have been years since our life changed, but our mental setup would not have changed. When we see, in many cases, this will apply. If we have the habit of taking coffee at seven in the morning, automatically there will be ring from inside us for coffee, even without seeing the clock. Then we will know that it is seven o' clock in the morning.

Mind will go in the same track, which is already recorded. Mind does not have its own natural course. It does not have its own freedom of choosing the path. Whatever we have recorded, it will use that same path. If we have the habit of sleeping at eight in the night, as soon as it becomes eight in the night, even if we don't see the clock, we begin to yawn. Our body automatically functions in the same routine way. If we observe deeply, mind is not a free, independent entity by itself. It is just a recorded system.

When we are functioning in this recording system, how we can say that we have awareness or we have the freedom to act the way we want. No. Really, our life is being spent in a very dull way. A devotee asked me: Master, which one will win in our life, is it fate or intelligence? I say : It is intelligence that will win, provided you have it. There is no doubt that intelligence will win. But whatever we have is not called intelligence. Of course, it is intelligence, which will win. But when will it win? When our mental setup and thought flow are in our control, only that time the intelligence starts working. Until then the intelligence does not work at all. Until then whatever was working was fate, which was calling itself as intelligence.

There is a beauty in this. There are some women who will run the family in such a way that no one will know that they are in control of that family. The husband will think that everything in the family is in his control. But even without the husband's awareness, she will control him. Some women know to hide the truth to that extent. Their actions will expressly prove that they are in charge. Some women are very smart, even without the husband being aware of it they will be in charge of him.

Our mind is like these smart women. That is the mind will show that we are free, But in reality it will control us and we will not have the freedom. That is a very dangerous situation. At least if we know that we are not free then that is okay. But if we don't even know that we are being controlled by the mind it is very dangerous. At this stage mind works at such an unconscious level. We won't even know that we are in sleep and we will be in sleep.

Once we come to clarity, first we should understand that we are in sleep. One more devotee had asked me a question yesterday, ‘Master, I am trying to meditate. But when I begin to meditate, my mind is oscillating very fast. Am I really progressing in meditation?’ We should understand one thing clearly, the moment we found out, that our mind is oscillating then it means that we are progressing in meditation.

During the new moon day, will we be able to see the black patches on the moon? No, we will not be able to see it. We can see that only on a full moon day. On a full moon day, the stains on the moon will be visible, due to the light from the moon itself. Similarly, when our consciousness or the intelligence starts working, then we will know that in our mind limitless thoughts are oscillating. During the new moon day, the stains on the moon will not be visible. It will be visible only on a full moon day, due to the light from it.

Similarly only when our intelligence and consciousness is in place, we will know that our mind is oscillating uncontrollably. When we sit in meditation, if we feel that our mind is uncontrollably oscillating, it is be clear that we are progressing in meditation. We have started progressing in our life. We have started bringing our mind in our control. Getting to know what is happening, is the first step to waking up.

If we dream of a tiger or an elephant chasing us, we will first come to the state of clarity that it is just a dream and only then we will come to the state of waking up. If we are usually haunted by dreams, we will know this. Firstly we will understand that it is a dream and then we will actually wake up. Similarly, the first thought which will come to us is that our mind is uncontrollably oscillating, that is, in our example, the first thought was that it was a dream. The clarity that it is a dream or that our mind is oscillating will come first. Then the second stage of waking up will happen.

There is a beautiful word in Sanskrit, which says, Buddha. Buddha means the awakened one. If we get the complete awareness and are in the awakened state then we become Buddha, else we will be Buddhu (fool). There is no big difference between Buddha and Buddhu. One is the awakened one and the other is the sleeping one.

We should understand deeply as to how we are sleeping. If we look into our life deeply, mostly; we do the same mistakes again and again. It is not wrong to do these mistakes, but doing the same mistake again and again is wrong. If we are doing the same mistake again and again, then it means that we have not learnt anything out of that mistake. Doing a mistake and not learning anything out of that mistake is the biggest mistake. There is no mistake, which is as big as doing the same mistake for the second time.

We should learn about two words, in our life, one is experience and the other word is experiential wisdom. Experience means the collection of incidents, which happen. If many incidents happened in our life, then it means we are a very experienced person. Experiential wisdom means the number of lessons, which we have learnt out of those experiences. Many times, we only age physically, but mentally we never grow. The physical ageing will increase our experience. Whereas only mental ageing will increase the experiential wisdom our experiential wisdom depends on the lessons, which we learn from our life's experiences.

Let me give an example. First time we touch fire in the gas range and understand that fire in the gas range will be hot. This is called an experience. Next we touch the coal-stove and understand that even this stove will be hot. Then we touch a lighted cigarette and conclude that the fire in the lighted cigarette will also be hot. Then we touch a lighted match stick and conclude that even the fire from the match stick will be hot. By the time we touch every form of fire and conclude that all forms of fire will be hot, our body will be ready to get burnt. We will be ready to go to the burial ground. We will become old.

Touching the different sources of fire and finally concluding that fire will burn is what is called experience. Whereas understanding the first time when we touch the fire in the coal- stove, that all forms of fire will burn, is called experiential wisdom. Thus touching one form of fire and concluding that all forms of fire will burn is called experiential wisdom and touching all forms of fire and then only concluding that all forms of fire will burn, is called experience. Please understand that coming to a clarity based on one lesson, which we learnt is called experiential wisdom. Experience is different from experiential wisdom. There is a difference between experience and experiential wisdom. In our life, if we see, we face different experiences, but experiential wisdom does not happen.

This morning I was reading a very good book called Technology of consciousnesses. They have clearly explained that if a person is affected by cancer, then it means that at least thousand times he should have destroyed his body. Only then there is a possibility that one can be affected by cancer. Our body's immune system is extremely powerful. Though again and again we cause destruction to our body and we put our mind in sorrow, still the body has the ability and capacity to revive itself. It has the capacity to safeguard itself. Don't think God has trusted us and given this body to us. Since He did not believe us, He has packed our bodies with the immune system. If He had given this body to us, without the immune system, then within two days our body will stop functioning. He knows clearly that body should function in spite of us. The immune system in our body is an excellent system. How many ever times we might disrespect or cause destruction to our body, still the body immune system helps in renewing us again.

We may wonder, when are we disrespecting or causing destruction to our body? If we think deeply we will know. We are awake till twelve in the night and watch television. Our eyes will water and during the advertisements our eyes will automatically close. Eyes will literally plead for rest but what do we do? We force ourselves and open our eyes and continue to watch the programme. Then next, take the gonkura chutneys (spicy paste made of spinach). Our tongue will burn and stomach will pain, but since it is tasty, we keep on eating it. In spite of our ears pleading, we play and listen to music even if it tears our ear drums. This is what I call as disrespecting the body. It means for our sensory pleasures, and for our comforts, disrespecting the body and destroying it. How much ever disturbance and destruction we cause to our body, it has got the ability to renew itself again and again.

In that book called Technology of consciousness this has been beautifully explained. Diseases like cancer have an impact, only when it goes beyond a point where the body itself cannot bear the abuse. That is very true. Don't think any disease comes by itself. Many people come and tell me, 'Master, I have never cursed anybody or thought harmful things for others; I don't know why I was infected by this disease. I tell them, you might not have thought harmful things for others, but you have thought for your own body. Even without our awareness, we begin to insult and disrespect our body. We are disrespecting our body.

The great enlightened Master Thirumular says: Body is a temple. However we don't treat it like a temple. But now, there is a big problem. Since he said that the body is like a temple, people started disrespecting the temples like their body! People started disrespecting the temples, like the way they disrespect their body.

The verses, which we are going to see today, Patanjali beautifully says that maintaining the purity of the body is a penance. Purity here does not mean physical cleanliness. That is easy to do. Maintaining or safeguarding the body means not causing destruction to the body or disrespecting the body for our sensory pleasures or for our comforts. In our life, we don't respect our body.

Another important thing which we should understand clearly is that the moment we look at somebody's appearance and think : That body or the physical appearance is beautiful, then by that very act itself, we lose the respect for our body. I am not talking about the opposite sex attraction. I mean a male having an actor as a model for his physical appearance. To make sure that his body becomes like his model, he goes to gym and does all sorts of exercises. I am not saying we should not go to gym or do exercise, it is not wrong to do exercise or yoga to keep ourselfves healthy and fit. However the moment we think that our body should become like someone else's body, then it means that we have begun to disrespect our body. God has given the necessary, required physical structure and beauty to all of us. But, we apply extra makeup and do exercises so that we look like others. Please understand that all this just mean that we are disrespecting our body.

One person asked me: Master, why didn't God make everyone beautiful? I told him : How do you know that God has not made everyone beautiful? You decide a scale of beauty and also decide what beauty means. If someone is not according to that scale, then you categorize them as not looking beautiful. God is not an engineer who does mass production. If he was an engineer he would have made one mould and made mass production people. God is an artist, who has painted each one of us individually. If He was an engineer, then He would have done a mass production based on Mr. World and Miss. World. He would have given an order for mass production and gone to rest. But God is not an engineer. God is an artist. He has created all of us in different forms, different methods, different shapes and different angles. Each and everyone of us has a complete and beautiful body.

The moment we think that this body is not good and that we should make some changes to the body, we start to carve on this side, we color on one side and dye our hair, paint the lips, bleach the face, color our face and constantly start to hate our current physical structure. We begin to create a gap between us and our body. The moment we create this gap between us and our body, then without our awareness we begin to disrespect our body. Without our knowledge we begin to disrespect our body.

The moment we think that our body is not according to our wish then from that very moment we have begun to disrespect our body. If we are comfortable with our body, then it means that we are at ease with our body. If we have created a gap between us and our body, it means that we are not at ease with our body. The moment we are feeling uneasy with our body, this un-easiness is what is expressed as disease. Our mental setup is the fundamental reason for all our diseases. This is the truth. We shall discuss this point in detail today in our technique for discussion today. Today’s topic for the discourse is related to this.

From the part, Sadhanai Padham, 26ᵗʰ technique.

Viveka ghyadhi viblaba hanobhayaha.

It is a beautiful verse. Let me tell you the meaning of this. ‘The constant, uninterrupted acquiring of wisdom (vivekam) is a way to destroy ignorance’, is the meaning of the above verse. We should understand the relationship between this verse and today’s topic. The questions which create clarity in our wisdom (vivekam) like, ‘What is eternal and what is not? What is permanent and what is not? How to live our life? What has to be achieved in our life truly?‘, will pull us out of ignorance.

Let me tell you an incident, which actually happened. If I narrate this, then this particular message will become clear. I met an American devotee in America. He is an Indian who lives in America.

Some of us think that the people there are very happy. It is our imagination. The people who are here think that the people who are there are very happy. The people there think that people who are here are happy.

Anyway, let us come back to the incident. That devotee came and spoke to me : Master, I came here eight years back. When I came to America, I had a list of things to be accomplished. I had imagined that I should buy two houses, two cars, that I should have so much of money, and a good family environment. I came here with this kind of mental setup and plans. I had calculated that to achieve this it will take ten years. But due to my hard work, I achieved this in three years only.

This is actually a very good thing. So far, whichever countries I had visited, I have sensed that Indians have earned a good name. Truly, Indian people are real hard workers, probably when they go abroad, they start working! People in all countries respect Indians because they consider Indians to be very honest, hard working and have a good conduct. Truly, they are hard working.

Anyway, coming back to the incident, that American devotee said: Whatever I had listed, everything I have accomplished, but I did not achieve the goal, for which I wanted to achieve all this. Whatever I had planned to accomplish, like buying a house, buying a car, earning money, the family environment, everything I had accomplished. But I achieved all these thinking that I will get the bliss, but I didn't get that bliss.

Most of us are actually confused with our goals. Since the goal is not clear, we don't know as to how our life goes on. At the age of forty or fifty, most of us go into this mental setup and worry: What did we achieve in our life? It looks like the entire life is wasted. The great enlightened Master Appar Himself says, Kurikhol illaadhu Ketaen (I have destroyed myself without a goal). If we see in our lives, we are not clear as to what is eternal and what is not? What we want to achieve? And such kinds of goals are not clear at all.

I am not saying we should not have desires. I am only saying let those desires have clarity. There are two kinds of desires, one is 'Clear desires' and other one is 'Unclear desires'. Clear desires are desires where we have the clarity in our life that we want to achieve something. For example say we want to earn one million. When that desire is clear to us, two things will happen to us. First thing is, before getting onto the desire itself we will know whether we can achieve that desire or not. If we think it is possible, we will pursue it. If we think we cannot, we will just drop it. So in the beginning itself, root of sorrow is completely cut off. Then there is no problem.

As an example, let's take this desire of earning one million and analyze. If we are running a business now, we will know if it is possible to earn one million or not. If we think it is possible then we will work towards it. If we think it is not possible then we will change our goal accordingly, like earning five lakhs or ten lakhs which may be less than one billion. Then we get the clarity to set our goal. If it is a business with which it is possible to earn one billion, then we will start working towards earning that. After earning that, we will settle down with the clarity where we feel that it is true that we earned one billion, but we did not get the joy and the bliss, which we thought we will get.

There are two things which we need to understand. First thing when we know that it is not possible to achieve a certain desire then that desire itself will leave us. Second thing, when we know it is possible to achieve our desires, if we start pursuing our desires, after achieving the desires we will come to a clear understanding that by achieving these desires we are still not feeling fulfilled.

Our ancestors say dharmam, artham and kamam (desire). Let us see what Kamam is. Kamam means a desire. When a desire crops up, if we deeply analyze it and we come to know that it will not be fulfilled, then we come to a clarity that it will not happen and we will drop it and focus on something else. Then it is fine. There is no problem. If we think it will happen, then we will achieve that desire and once we accomplish the desire, we will come to a clear understanding that even after fulfilling the desires, our life is still not fulfilled. Both ways it is good. If our desires are clear and are at a conscious level, then firstly our life will be peaceful from the beginning or secondly it will at least show the way towards peace.

That is, if in the beginning only we know, that achieving that desire is not possible, then at that very moment we will forget that desire and work in another direction. If we think it is possible to fulfill that desire and pursue it then after achieving the desires, we will at least realize that running behind desires will not give us the fulfillment in our life. In some way, there will be clarity. Either we will know it today or we will know it after ten years. At least we will realize it after ten years. That itself is a big thing. But most of the time, we don't even get those desires to the conscious level.

Let us see a small example to understand this further. Do any of us feel upset that we are unable to become like Bill Gates, the richest man in the world? Does any of us cry and yearn for it? But there are people who are upset that they are unable to earn like their brother. Bill Gates is wealthier than the brother. But we are not upset that we are unable to become like Bill Gates. The reason is that we are very clear that it is not possible to become like Bill Gates. When the clarity comes, there is no room for being upset. Since there is a possibility that we can become like our brother, we get worried. In the beginning itself when we get that clarity then there is no room for worry. Since that clarity is not there in the beginning, we are traveling towards worry.

Please take this as home work and do this. Sit alone for about half an hour and start contemplating and writing down what all we want to achieve in our life?

Our wishes will fall into any of these categories: First one is desire for the physical comforts, like tasting a sweet or wanting to visit some place or some kind of pleasures connected to the body. This is the first type of desire.

Second one is desire for recognition, name and fame. We feel that everybody should praise us and everybody should acknowledge us and praise us that there is no one like us in this world. That's why, when some people donate a tube light to a temple, they mention not just their names as donors, but they also mention their ancestors names, in a way the light from the tube light is blocked! The details of the donor with his ancestor's names and the date on which he donated and all other possible details will be mentioned on the tube light in dark letters, in such a way, when it is switched on, there won't be light from the tube-light, only the shadow of the dark lines will be seen on the walls! This is the desire for recognition, name and fame.

Third one is the desire related to the inner world. It is the desire for spiritual growth. Please understand that desire for spiritual growth is also a desire. Esanodu Aayinum aasai arumin says an enlightened Master. These are beautiful lines. It expresses the desire for a peaceful and blissful life. But this desire is a good desire. A desire towards spirituality will burn the other desires. The fourth kind of desire is the one, which does not fit into any of the above 3 desires. That is the desire for giving trouble to others. That is a desire which implies, ‘Even if I don’t get anything good in my life, some one else should not get it. Anger, violence and terrorism all these fall under this category.

All our desires will fall in any one of these categories, nothing other than these. If we segregate all our desires, it will fall into any of the above categories. There is nothing else other than these above mentioned categories.

Please do this homework. Let us make a list of our desires under each of the above category. After we write down our desires and make it clear to ourselves, we will have a major clarity in our life. We might wonder, ‘Master, what is going to happen, by writing down all the desires?’ Please don’t think this way. When our mind gets clarity about our desires, we will decide clearly the way our life should flow. Unnecessarily, our energy will not get wasted in all sides. We will come to a clear clarity. We will come to a clarity that, ‘These are my desires and this is what I should work towards’.

When we start getting the clarity on our desires, two things will happen. One is that we will get the energy to fulfill the desires and we will begin to work towards it. Or secondly, we will get a clarity that we cannot fulfill it. Whatever happens, it is good. But the fundamental thing which should happen is the clarity which we should have over our desires.

Wisdom (vivekam) is the basic need. Power without intelligence is stupidity. Power without intelligence will lead only to terrorism and violence. That is of no use. Similarly, intelligence without power will make us dull and a coward. The power without intelligence will be harsh and rough. And our life will be haphazard and violent. It will not have any clarity.

Why do you think most of us are diabetic? Having sweets without any discipline and eating it vigorously. We don’t taste these sweets deeply and joyfully. When we don’t taste the sweet deeply and joyfully, then we start having more sweets, thinking that the next sweet will give more joy and so on. Be very clear, eating more is due to not eating properly. We might wonder: What? Are we eating more because we are not eating properly? How is that? If we eat patiently taking care to taste and enjoy every bit of the food, we cannot eat beyond a particular limit. If we tie the cow in the place where the grass is stored, the cow will never eat more? We may tie the cow in the place where the grass is stored, but still a cow will not eat beyond a limit. Even if a dog is sitting close to its food, it will still not eat beyond a particular limit. Man is the only exception to nature, acting beyond his limits. Acting beyond limits happens only in the life of human beings.

A small story.

This is actually a funny story. There was a middle-aged man. He hated both his wife and her pet cat. He wanted to sack both this wife and her pet cat. Unfortunately he could not sack his wife, so he planned to sack the cat. One morning, he escaped his wife’s notice and he took the cat to a forest which is ten miles away from the city. Happy and relieved he drove back home. Much to his shock, he sees the cat at home. The cat came home much faster than him. Next day he takes the cat to another place which was in another direction about 20 miles away. He drove back home and ten minutes after he reached home he heard the meowing noise of the cat. The cat was back home again. The angry man on the third day thrust the cat in a bag and drove his car in different directions, left and right and haphazardly. After a long time he reached a forest and this thought passed his mind: This forest is a new to me. I myself have come here for the first time. So definitely the cat will not know the way. So happily he left the cat behind, and proceeded towards home. On the way he had a doubt and called his wife through his mobile and asked her if the cat is at home. She replied: Cat? Oh yes, the cat is very much here, right next to me. He said: Oh, then please ask the cat the way back home, I have lost the way!

Please understand that man is the only animal who has moved away from nature. No other animal has moved away from nature. Eating beyond a particular limit comes due to experiencing something in a harsh manner, in a rough and tough way without any discipline. We do not enjoy in a relaxed and sensitive way. Most of us are always rough and tough. In our lives, if we see, even when we are talking in a loving manner to someone, the words that we use will be as though we are fighting. The other person will not know whether we are fighting or talking with love.

When we are eating food, if we can deeply, patiently and joyfully eat the food then we will not eat beyond a particular limit. We are either watching TV or reading the newspaper while eating. Or else only while eating all our past memories and future dreams will come up in our mind. It is either dreaming about past memories or imagining about the future. When we are not deeply involved in anything, for example, when we eat, if we are not focused on what we eat then we will not know how much we ate. If we fill our snack bowl and switch on the TV, when the program is over the plate also will be empty. We will not know how much we ate or what we ate. And in the process we will not know even if we have gulped any insects, since we are so engrossed in watching TV! The reason is we are watching TV and something else is going in through the other side. We don't even know the taste of what we ate. The moment we enjoy things without any sensitivity and in a crude manner we are actually destroying the body.

There is a beautiful Upanishad (Sacred texts that embody the experiences and ecstatic realizations of great seers who perceived the reality and enjoyed it) mantra (sacred words).

Annam Brahmaedhi navya janaadh. Annamna Nindhyaath Thathratham.

The meaning of this is, ‘Food is like God, Don’t waste it. Don’t disrespect food. Please follow this religiously, like a Vratham (a commitment). Vratham is a duty done towards God, to show our gratitude to God. Wasting food does not only mean throwing the food in the dustbin. Without respecting the food, if we gulp down the food quickly, be very clear that is also equal to throwing the food into the dustbin. Without eating the food deeply, joyfully and patiently, if we dump the food in urgency into our stomach, then this is also similar to dumping the food in the dustbin. At least by dropping into the dustbin we will not put on weight, dropping into ourselfves increases our weight leading to other diseases.

I used to visit many of our devotees homes. They will place many items on the plate and tell me: Master please eat, if you don’t eat then all the items will be wasted. I tell them: If the food which is external is wasted, then only the food will go waste. If the food is dumped into the body with an intention not to waste then be very clear, not only the food will go waste even our body functioning will also go waste. Experiencing something in an insensitive way means that we are insulting and ill-treating both the body and the mind.

Intelligence and wisdom (vivekam) and clarity should first come in our thought flow and desires. If we can come to a basic clarity that is enough.

Be very clear, this does not mean controlling our desires. Understanding what our desires are whether we can achieve such desires and thus arriving at this clarity is enough. Half of our problems will disappear. If we have clearly come to the conclusion that it is not possible to achieve those desires then such desires will disappear. We need not have to worry about that. That desire will settle in the back of our mind and get dissolved. To get that wisdom (vivekam) and intelligence is the basic requirement in our lives. The clarity, wisdom (vivekam) and intelligence as to what is required and what is not required is the basic requirement to be achieved by every one of us.

The fundamental duty of every man is wisdom (vivekam). Most of us think that if our parents have earned the required wealth for us to live our entire life, then their duty towards us is over. No, that is wrong. I always tell people: the duty towards your son is not just earning the wealth for his living. You are responsible for giving him the intelligence and the wisdom (vivekam) to run his life. Really, that is the duty of the father towards his son. Be very clear the duty of the parents towards their children is to provide them with the intelligence, clarity and wisdom (vivekam). But if we don’t give them the intelligence, even if we transfer wealth valuing millions, we ourselves will be spoiling our children. Most often we see that if the father earns, the son will spend lavishly.

A small story.

Actually a true story. Henry Ford is one of the richest persons in America. Many of us may have heard of him. He is the founder of the Ford Motor Company. He usually goes to a hotel. Generally he stays in an ordinary room, which is not a deluxe room. But if his son goes to the same hotel, he will stay in a deluxe room with all the luxuries. The manager of the hotel asked Henry Ford: Sir, you always stay in the ordinary rooms, but your son always stays in the luxury rooms. Henry Ford replies :His dad is a rich man, but my dad is not a rich man.

Please understand that the biggest wealth, which we can transfer to our children or to our next generation, is intelligence and wisdom (vivekam). Let us not think that our duty ends just by providing our children school education or transferring our wealth to their names. The most important thing which we have to transfer to them is the mental clarity, the ability, the wisdom (vivekam) and intelligence to handle their life and live their life. Provide them with meditation and knowledge. That is our basic duty towards our children. The moment we give them the wisdom (vivekam), intelligence and the clarity, he will earn whatever he wants. But if we just give them the wealth without giving the wisdom (vivekam) and intelligence, then how many ever millions we transfer to them, they will ruin the entire wealth. Since we earned it we know its worth. But this wealth goes to our children as a gift so they will not know the value of it.

Let me tell you an incident which happened. All of us know Bill Gates, the richest man in the world. He has just transferred 1% of his wealth to his children and he has written a will to donate the rest of his wealth towards charity. Actually he has really done it. He has created a trust to handle this. People are asking him as to why he transferred just small negligible portion of his wealth to his children and the balance has been allocated for charity. He replied: Just because he has the credit of being my son, the entire wealth cannot go to him. He will not respect the wealth. He will know the worth, only when he earns it by himself.

By this is does not mean that we should not transfer our wealth to children. But before transferring the wealth we must give them the mental setup which is needed to handle the wealth. Give them the mental state needed to handle the status. If we transfer the wealth without giving the needed mental setup then they will not be able to retain the wealth. The first thing that we have to do is bringing the intelligence, clarity and wisdom (vivekam) into ourselves and transferring the same to our next generation. That is, the clarity and maturity to handle life should be brought into us and then the same should be transferred to our next generation.

That’s what Patanjali beautifully says: Only when we bring in the wisdom (vivekam) into our lives, we wake up from ignorance. As long as wisdom (vivekam) does not come into us, our life will be immersed in the darkness of ignorance. The word, ‘Wake up!’ means this. We must bring our mental setup into wisdom (vivekam). The moment we bring our mental setup within wisdom (vivekam), then we will not face the same pain again and again. If we see, most of us will be facing similar kind of pains in our life.

For example, as soon as a person gets up in the morning, he smokes a cigarette and in the evening he feels guilty for having smoked the cigarette. Again the next morning, he smokes the cigarette and so on the mental pattern continues. Some people have this habit of drinking in the evening and feeling guilty in the morning that they are unable to stop the drinking habit. Both habit and guilt rotate like wheels. Both of them keep coming alternatively. First the desire to enjoy then after that the guilt will come and so on alternatively. It will keep rotating. Breaking free from this cycle of desire and guilt is called wisdom. The moment we bring in wisdom and clarity, we should not immerse ,ourselves in sorrow by doing the same mistake again and again.

Waking up from the ignorance of immersing ourselves in sorrow constantly is the basic meaning of the words, Wake Up. ‘Wake Up’ does not mean just waking up from sleep, it also means pulling ourselves us out of the sorrow and having the maturity to wake up from ignorance. That is what is meant through the words, ‘Wake up’.

There is a beautiful hymn in the Bhagavad Gita (a spiritual book in which Lord Krishna explains the science of self-realization and the exact process by which one can establish the eternal relationship with the supreme). Utharae Aathmanathmanam Aathman Avasadhyaeth. This hymn means that we ourselves should bring us up from misery. We ourselves should wake us up. We ourselves should pull ourselves out of sorrow. We think that someone else will bring us out of sorrow. Nobody else can do this. How can someone else eat on behalf of us? Only we should take care of our mental setup. May be someone else can earn for us but nobody can eat on our behalf. Similarly, we ourselves should earn the wisdom in our life, the clear mental setup, and the maturity to run our life. Nobody else can do that for us. Nobody else will be able to do that for us. Only we can bring the clarity, maturity and the ability to live life.