Life Is An Eternal Celebration🔗

Life is an eternal celebration! Once we understand each and every word of this statement, then only will we be able to understand the whole subject.

Life! What is really the meaning of life? Eastern mystics always say, ‘Life has some goal.’ Western philosophers always contradict this. They say life has no goal. In the east, almost all mystics, from Buddha to Krishna, Mahavir to Nagarjuna, Shankara, Kabir to Tulsidas, all the saints, all the seers always emphasized that life has some goal. In the West, almost all philosophers who have analyzed the intellect, who have studied logic, said, ‘Life has no goal.’

Somebody once asked me, ‘Master, does life really have a goal? What is the truth?’ I answered saying, life has no goal, but it has purpose! Goal is one thing, purpose is another. We need to understand the word ‘purpose’. Goal means, we travel to reach something. Life becomes a road on which we travel in order to achieve something. Purpose means the very road is the purpose! It is not that we traverse through life to attain something. The very life is that ‘something’. It is not a way; it is a goal in itself.

A small story:

A few friends were sitting and chatting over a cup of coffee. The first man says, ‘I know a man who has spent every single one of his evenings at home for the last 30 years since he got married.’ The other man replies, ‘Oh! This is what I call love, real love for your wife.’ The third man says, ‘You call that love? The doctor calls it paralysis!’

Most of the time, our lives are nothing but a paralysis. We don’t make our decisions with our consciousness. Decisions happen without our consciousness - as if we are in paralysis and can’t exercise our consciousness. If they happen by our conscious choice, because of our conscious decision, only then is it life. It is life only when we decide to live it. Until the moment we decide to live, it can never be called 'life'.

There is an aphorism in the Upanishads which says, 'A man who decides to live is not affected by any of the karmas (unfulfilled actions).'

We need to understand what karma is; then we will be able to understand this one line. Karma means the conscious choices which we make. Conscious choices, which we continually make is what comprise karma. Our lives are nothing but the totality of our conscious choices, which we continuously make. Whether we want to or not, directly or indirectly we are choosing every time. Someone else does not choose for us. It is we who choose. It is continuously our choice, our decision. We may think somebody else decides. But it is always us who decides.

With a small example we can understand this basic truth. If somebody criticizes us, we choose to get offended. If somebody praises us, we choose to be flattered. Because this may be a habitual pattern for us, we may choose it unconsciously and so we don't even realize that we choose it. But nobody else ever chooses for us. It is always our choice. Because it has become our habit, we forget that we are choosing. Every time somebody criticizes us, we choose to be upset. Every time somebody praises us, we choose to be flattered. It is nobody else's choice but our own. We can decide either way. Sometimes when somebody criticizes us, we can choose to not get offended; we can choose to remain calm, relaxed, collected.

Continuous choices, our choices, are what is called 'life'. All our choices every minute, put together, decide our life. If we don't make decisions, if we let incidents decide the direction of our lives, then this becomes 'paralysis'. Our lives are, as of now, nothing but a series of paralyzed situations. It is only when we decide to live our lives without any interruption, without any guidance or outer forces, without any outer situations or decisions being forced on us, we decide to really live. As long as we don't understand life is our choice, our living is paralyzed.

Let us say that you get a new car, a Mercedes Benz; you get into the car and start the vehicle. You are driving around for a while. After going around the block, when you come back to your portico and your garage, you need to stop the car. Until that point you knew everything: how to start, how to operate the car, how to turn right, and left, but now you don't know how to stop. If you don't know how to stop, you will not be driving the car; the car will be driving you! In the same way, you are not living, life is living you. If you don't know how to stop the car, you are just paralyzed.

Put simply, matter is living the energy, not energy living the matter. There are two things in us: our being – energy, and our outer life – matter. If we consciously decide, if our energy decides to live without being affected by outer situations, without being touched by outer things, we start really living; our consciousness shines. Otherwise, matter lives through us; we do not live through matter. Life can be about living or it can be about paralysis. It can be either.

Understand this small thing: normally, if matter lives our life, our importance grows if matter grows. Our importance is nothing but our wealth. If we have more cars, more bungalows, greater bank balance, we get more importance. Our value increases with matter, with the things we possess. As I said earlier, our being is energy. So in this mode of life, energy gains value through matter.

If you visit the Ramana ashram in Tiruvannamalai in South India, you can find small, old coconut shells, a piece of furniture, a small staff, being worshipped by thousands of people. That small staff, the old coconut shell, the small piece of furniture, all these have been touched by Bhagwan Ramana Maharishi, an enlightened person. So they are worshipped.

This is the second thing we need to understand. In Bhagwan's case, though the matter may seem small and of no apparent value, merely because it has been touched by his enlightened energy, the value of this matter has been greatly increased! In the ordinary material world, matter adds value to us. But in the case of these enlightened beings, having lived consciously, they add value to matter!

A small story:

A rich old widow got married for the second time. One day her husband did something that upset her. The rich widow got very angry and started to shout, 'But for my money this furniture would not have been here. But for my money this house would not have been here. But for my money you would not have such a big car. But for my money you would not have all these comforts. You are misbehaving with me!’ Her husband calmly replied, ‘But for your money I would not have been here. Your value is nothing but your money.’

We are judged by the paraphernalia we surround ourselves with. Because of the paraphernalia that surrounds us, we get value. Matter therefore adds value to energy in this case. In the case of people who live consciously, people who have become enlightened, value is added to matter by their energy. Whether matter should gain value through energy or whether energy should gain value through matter is our choice.

A man who is paralyzed is always weighed by matter. For a man who really lives, even his matter is valued by his energy like how Bhagwan’s belongings were valued. When a conscious man touches anything, it becomes holy. Even small things like an old coconut shell, a piece of wooden furniture or a staff, even those things become objects of worship. These men receive respect because they lived consciously. Energy guided their lives. Conscious decisions guided their lives. When we actually decide to live, when we consciously decide to live, life starts happening to us.

A great enlightened master George Gurdjieff who was from the west, was a gift to the world. He once said, ‘All of you do not have a soul. It has to be created.’ In a way that is not the truth. But by saying this, he means to inspire us. The words used are part of a technique. He wants to imply that only when we start to live consciously, the soul is created! Actually when we start living consciously, only then is the soul expressed. Even if we have a soul, when we don’t make conscious decisions, it doesn’t matter. How does it matter whether we have a soul or not, if we don’t live consciously? If we don’t use it, whether we have it or not, is immaterial. The soul expresses itself and energy expresses itself only when we make conscious decisions. Conscious decision-making does not refer to decisions relating to our jobs or marriage or our lifestyle. It is not related to just big decisions. It is related to every moment of our lives.

Even while making ordinary decisions like sitting in a chair, sit consciously. Feel the comfort of the chair consciously. Sit not only consciously, but also listen to things happening around you; see the things happening around you consciously. When you do this, material things will no more create an impression on you!

When we don't decide consciously, samskaras are created. The word samskara should be understood. It is a beautiful Sanskrit term. If one understands the idea, then one can grasp the meaning. In English there are words - 'imprint' or 'impression', but I am not satisfied with these words; the closest words that can translate samskaras are perhaps 'emotion filled memories'.

Let us see how we can understand this concept. As we live, whenever we act, a print of that is created in us, a hangover of that activity is created in us: that is samskara. Samskara means that if, for instance one continuously drinks coffee, the idea or habit of that is imprinted in one's mind. Samskara has a powerful potential energy to make one repeat the action. People come and tell me, 'Master, at exactly 10 pm every evening, wherever I am, I am reminded of drinking. I am unable to control myself. I find myself being pulled towards the bar and then my mind makes a decision and I go to the bar.' That is a samskara.

Samskaras are powerful. It is almost like gun powder sprinkled or spread throughout our being. At certain times they affect us strongly; it is almost as if we have no choice to do what we want to do. They act on us making us do the same thing again and again. The more we repeat our actions the deeper the samskaras get inserted into our very being. It is a vicious circle. 'Doing' makes a samskara and repeating the action makes it deeper. In other words creating samskaras makes one do things, and doing things makes the samskara deeper.

When one understands samskara then one will understand what life actually is. As of now, we don't live, only our samskaras live through us. Imprints are made in our minds by social conditioning, by the way we are brought up in society, by our unconscious decisions; whatever is done creates a set of samskaras and these are living through us now. It is not as if we are living samskaras. If we cannot stop any habit, the habit starts living through us. If you eat what you want, it can be said that you are eating. If you eat without control of your mind, the food is eating you. First you start to drink a little alcohol; soon, alcohol will drink you. That is how samskaras work.

Initially, we create samskaras; later on samskaras live our lives. As of now our lives are pure samskara, habits. As I always say, the word ‘habit’ is the right word. If you drop the ‘h’, ‘a bit’ is left, if you drop the ‘a’, ‘bit’ is left. If you drop the ‘b’, ‘it’ remains. Only when you drop the ‘i’ will it die! The habit survives because of us, our mind.

When we decide to live consciously, life happens to us. Don’t think life happens to us when we are born. When we are born, only the seed, the potentiality of life is given to us, never life itself. When we decide to live consciously, only then are we really born, or rather reborn. In Eastern mysticism there is a word dhvija which means a man who decides to be consciously reborn, a man who decides to give birth to himself consciously through strong intention of living consciously. If you are initiated into meditation, if you take somebody as your master and you are given a technique, you are called dhvija – reborn.

There is something called a Gayatri mantra. Once a person is initiated with the Gayatri mantra he is said to be a dhvija or twice-born. Being initiated with the Gayatri mantra does not mean that you become religious; no! The Hindu philosophy, rightly called sanatana dharma - a philosophy, a spiritual culture, a world-view and a way of life that is open to, and welcoming of all people without discrimination

Take this instance of a man, more than 70 years old who has lived in the same forest throughout his life. A young man, a person new to the forest comes to him and asks, ‘Sir, how can I cross this forest. Please help me.’ So the old man starts giving directions, ‘Go one kilometer further. You will find a lion. Then take a left, travel three kilometers and you will find a big snake. Then escape from the snake, go three kilometers and you will find a valley. Cross the valley, go four kilometers and you will find a river. Cross it and you will reach the other side.’

Is this guidance going to help the young man? No! Instead of that if he is given a torch, the torch will give him a clear view of the road and that will be enough. The guidelines are of no help because the forest is continuously changing. Life is more like a forest. It is difficult to live by guidelines, by rules. We need understanding, clarity. All we really need is a torch and we will each be able to find our own unique path to the other side of the forest.

When you are given a set of concepts, beliefs, it is very much like spoon feeding. When you have been told to follow a set of beliefs, you cannot live in a natural way. Most of us are given just an ideology

The Gayatri does not belong to any religion. It is just a decision to live consciously. The emphasis on consciousness is given to you through it. You are made to understand what consciousness actually means. The Gayatri mantra has no other religious connotation attached to it. Of course later on some perceptions may have been added, but originally it meant only one thing - a conscious decision to live consciously. When we start living consciously, life happens to us; we are reborn, dhvija. A man who is reborn in this way is a conscious being - a man who decides to live consciously. In the Upanishad they call him a paramahamsa - a man who decides to live consciously; one who goes beyond karmas.

When we decide to live consciously, our samskaras do not have any role to play in our lives. Our samskaras can never play any role in our lives then, because samskaras are from the past. Our being is in the present; samskaras are more or less like ghosts. The past is dead!

When I was wandering in India, I had a nice time. For more than nine years I traveled. I wandered throughout India, mostly by foot. I always stayed in graveyards! If you see my pictorial biography, you will see many photographs of me in different graveyards. People ask me why I stayed in graveyards. I tell them, 'First of all, I never needed to make any reservations there! Secondly, almost every village has a graveyard. Thirdly, nobody stays there! All the inhabitants are dead; they never disturb others.' Others ask me, 'Master, weren't you bothered by ghosts?' I said, dead people never disturb others; only living people disturb others.

Ghosts are lower level beings. Ghosts are more or less like samskaras. If we don't have the awareness to live consciously, they take advantage and rule us. If we are able to live consciously and make conscious decisions, they have no ability to live through us as they are lower than us. As long as our consciousness is awakened, as long as our individuality is awakened, as long as we have made the decision to live, neither ghosts nor samskaras can disturb us; because both are dead and are from past memories..

The power of ghosts does not lie in the ghosts themselves; it lies in the way we empower them. It is our belief in them that makes them powerful, much like the character, Vali, from the great Hindu epic Ramayana. Vali had been granted a boon that anyone facing him in a fight would lose half his power to him. That is how it works with ghosts; when we start believing in them, they get half our power. Otherwise neither samskaras nor ghosts have any value.

Many people come and tell me, 'Master, I know smoking is a bad habit but I am unable to stop because it has become a habit.' One man came and told me, 'Master, last week I read a book of all the bad things that happen to us when we smoke; not only the effects of smoking but also the health problems caused by second-hand smoking. I read a big book about smoking and then I stopped.' So I asked him, 'Oh, that is good. So you have stopped smoking?' The man replied 'No, no, master! I have stopped reading those kinds of books!'

Many times we consciously understand that something is wrong but we say, 'It has become a habit. I am unable to stop.' I tell you, habits have no value. If we decide to be conscious, habits have no power over our consciousness, . It is just your conscious choices that have made the habit deep. When we decide to live consciously, our choices can be changed. That is why it is usually said, that a man decides to become enlightened. I use other words. I say, 'Man chooses to become enlightened!'

Buddha became enlightened on his birthday. Buddha Purnima is the day on which he was born and the day on which he became enlightened; of course years later, but on the same day. There was a question asked of Buddha, 'Master, how did you become enlightened on the same day as your birthday? How did that happen?' Buddha replied, 'When I say I have become enlightened, don't think something special has happened to me. I decided to live out my natural state that is enlightenment. That is all! It is just a conscious decision. So when I take such a decision, I can consciously choose, 'Oh! It is my birthday; it is a good day. Let me live out my enlightenment.'

We need to understand only one line of an aphorism from the Hindu scriptures. It is a secret, the master key of one's own enlightenment. When you decide consciously, you simply express your enlightenment. When we decide consciously, we can simply walk over our samskaras because neither our samskaras nor ghosts have any value as they are. It is only we who give power to them.

A small story:

A man used to come home late every evening after having drunk to his heart's content. His wife asked her friend to give her some ideas, some suggestion to stop this habit in him. The friend suggested, 'Since he needs to pass through the city graveyard today, maybe you can hide yourself near the graveyard and when he comes by, you can frighten him by making some strange sounds. Then there might be a chance that out of fear of crossing the graveyard, he will not come home late. Once he starts coming home early, naturally he will not go to the bar and his drinking habit will drop. Try this technique.' The wife decided to do what her friend had advised her to do. She prepared herself by putting on makeup, black clothes and carrying a small pot with fire, so that she could create some smoke for effect. After she was through with her preparations, she went to the graveyard and hid herself behind a stone. Soon, her husband came by. When he walked by, she jumped in front of him and started to wail, in her strange dress, with all her paraphernalia. The man stood unperturbed looking at her. He took her hand in his, shook it and said, ‘Don't you recognize me? I live with your sister!’

It is our being which gives respect to ghosts and samskaras, which are one and the same. That is why they say the ego is like a ghost. If we give it importance and value, it will be present. If we don’t give it respect, it will be absent. There is a beautiful word in Sanskrit

When we consciously decide to live our life, we start living. Life happens to us when we consciously allow it to happen. So start living life and you will see that life happens to you. Until then, you do not know the meaning of life; you do not know even the word ‘life’!

The next word is ‘is’. Life ‘is’ an eternal celebration. Life ‘was’ never an eternal celebration. Life ‘will’ never be an eternal celebration. Life ‘is’ an eternal celebration. We all have an idea, almost in every religion, in all philosophies - that the past was golden. In Hinduism they call it Satya Yuga. In Christianity, they call it the Garden of Eden in which Adam and Eve lived. In Buddhism, they call it the yoga of dhamma, the age of dhamma. In every religion, in every sect, in every culture, they have an idea that there was a time when life was an eternal celebration; that there was a time when everything was as it should be – ideal! Every religion, every cult has such an idea that in the distant past, ‘once upon a time’, things were perfect.

This idea of satya yuga, the garden of Adam and Eve, dhamma yuga, is just our idea.

Let me tell you about a small incident.

Archeologists found a stone inscription from the ancient civilization of Mesopotamia that flourished 6000 years ago in the Middle East. If one read it they would be amazed by the similarity between it and today’s newspapers, today’s editorials. The inscription said, ‘Once upon a time, people used to be moral, people used to be disciplined. Now, no son listens to his father; wives disobey husbands, husbands are unfaithful to their wives; this is a time without morals. We need to do something to revive moral behaviour among people.' Five thousand years ago, the Hindu epic Bhagavatam says that 'Kali, the evil spirit, has entered the world. Now, a father tries to misbehave with his daughter, a mother tries to have a relationship with her son.'

There was never a time when life was heaven. Only in this instant can we make life a celebration. It was always as it is now. But we feel that life was a celebration in the past. When people reminisce, they always say, 'We had a golden childhood.' We always talk about our 'golden childhood'. Did we feel that at that time? No!

Do you know why we take photographs? Because only in photographs can we enjoy life, never when we live in those real scenes. I always find wherever we go, people continuously take photographs. I ask why they take photographs missing the real moments. But they don't understand. Then when the moment is past, they look through their album at the photographs and reminisce, 'Oh, it was so nice. We went to this place; it was so joyful. See how happy we were at that time.'

When we are actually taking the photographs, we don't enjoy the moment. I have seen that when people go sightseeing, they are so bothered about taking photographs that they never enjoy the things around them. They are so preoccupied with covering the whole place with their camera. They are continuously obsessed about taking pictures, about the correct angles to take the best pictures. Their eyes turn blind because they don't look around at things in the present and enjoy. We try to make even the present moment part of the past. We can enjoy only the past, so we let the present moment pass. We have lost the habit of enjoying the present. When we are there, we don't have the time to enjoy ourselves. When the event has passed us by, we enjoy the event as past. The mind is habituated to only enjoy the past. This is a mental habit.

Psychologists say that for nine months while in our mother's womb, we never had any responsibility, never had any work and never had to do anything. We were totally taken care of, alone, joyful, independent of all bondage and responsibilities. We were in bliss. We enjoyed our aloneness which is our true nature. That imprint, the samskara, the hangover of that period when we lived in the womb, makes us feel that the past is great. The memory of the feeling of that time makes us think that the past was great.

The past was never grand. There is a beautiful word tataka in Pali, the language of Buddha, which means 'to be at ease', meaning that only in the present can one be living. This is the only moment that can be lived. It is just our belief that the past was great; that there was a time in our lives when everything was well. If we scan that time in the past and consciously see, then we will understand that at that point in time we were much in the same mood. We always say, 'College was the best time of my life.' But when we were living it, did we say that about it?

So understand the relevance of this word. Life was never an eternal celebration. Life will never be an eternal celebration. Life is an eternal celebration. It is the present 'is' which makes us happy or sad. If one is enjoying the past or future, then realize that one is enjoying only the samskara, the hangover. One is living with a ghost. As the man said, 'Didn't you know? I have been living with your sister for so long.'

We are living with ghosts if we think the past was eternal, the past was a celebration, or the future will be a celebration. The 'is-ness' or thathata is lost. This is a beautiful word. When we live in the is-ness, things are totally different. To live in the is-ness we need sensitivity. We need life.

The next word is 'eternal'. Life is an eternal celebration. The word 'eternal' needs to be understood. We always understand this word as being the past, present and future, all three put together.

There is a short story from Sufism which will help us understand the meaning of the word 'eternal': There was a Sufi master called Abdullah. He was a mystic who lived throughout his life in nithyananda - eternal bliss. He used to be continuously happy and blissful from morning to night, wherever he was. The Sufis drank wine, so even when he drank he was happy. When a person drinks we see their original face. People are all smiles and happiness till they have a drink. After a drink all their stupidity is revealed. In Buddhist or Zen monasteries, one is made to drink before one enters a monastery. By this they read one's unconsciousness, what one is; who one is. So even when Abdullah had drunk wine, he was happy; he was in ecstasy, even his unconscious mind was in ecstasy. One day somebody asked him, 'Master how are you continuously happy? What is the technique you practice?' His reply was beautiful. He said, 'I never decide to be joyful for days in advance. When I get up in the morning, I ask myself, 'Abdullah do you want to be happy, do you want to be blissful today or do you wish to be in sadness? My mind always tells me that I want to be joyful. Then I tell myself, 'Okay, then be happy; then be joyful.' Simple! I only decide for that day, not for the next day. I never decide for eternity.'

What would we do if we were asked this question? We would decide for eternity. One may not remember tomorrow. One might reason that it might be better to decide to be eternally happy this instant. But that is not going to work. Our idea of eternity is totally different. Abdullah says, 'Everyday I decide, as soon as I wake up in the morning. I decide that today I want to be happy. I do not bother with the next day.'

People ask me two or three questions when I relate this story. The first question is, 'Master, he has no other responsibility; that is why he can afford to be happy. We have so many responsibilities, how can we be happy, blissful?'

We must understand one thing. If one starts worrying, will one's responsibilities be sorted out or taken care of? If we think that by being worried, by being sorrowful, by being morose, we will be able to carry out our responsibilities in a better way, then we can cry as much as possible; be in sorrow as much as possible; be as miserable as one wants, but is it going to work well? Is it going to give us any solutions?

If one has ten problems, by worrying one creates the eleventh problem. I tell people to decide as soon as they wake up. When you wake up early in the morning, call yourself by your name. It is a strange thing, but when you call yourself by your name, the ghosts or samskaras with which you associate yourself get disconnected. As long as you think of yourself as 'Abdullah', you cannot call yourself 'Abdullah'. Generally, you never associate yourself with your name; you only associate yourself with samskaras or ghosts. When others call your name, it is an unconscious process, but when you call yourself by name it is a conscious process.

Gurdjieff says that for self-realization, it is the best mantra or chant. We do not know the power of our name. If ten people are sleeping in one room and one person's name is 'Ram', when you call that name the other nine will not respond; only Ram will respond. Our name penetrates through our being. If we disassociate ourselves from our name, we completely disassociate ourselves from our samskaras. So according to Abdullah, it is a powerful technique. He says, I call myself Abdullah, Abdullah, Abdullah, what do you want, joy, or sorrow and misery? When we call ourselves by our name we create distance between ourselves and our samskaras. We create an understanding that we are not our samskaras. When we understand that we are not our samskaras, half the job is done. Then ask yourself whether you want to live joyfully or in sadness and misery; after all we already know what is going to happen in the next 24 hours.

Our lives are nothing but a simple routine. The same cup, whether lifted by the left hand or right, is not going to change anything; not even the temperature of the coffee in it will be affected. We already know what our routine is. We need to give ourselves a chance to live the same routine in a mood of bliss. Then we will realize that every moment of our lives can be penetrated, can be lived in bliss.

When bliss enters our lives, it transforms...sat chit ananda. In Sanskrit they use these three words to describe the same phenomena sat means 'truth', chit means 'consciousness' and ananda means 'bliss'. When ananda occurs, the effects of truth and consciousness can be felt in our lives. When consciousness enters our lives, the effects of truth and bliss manifest themselves. When any of these enter our lives, our life is transformed. There is an alchemy that happens in our lives. Especially when one tries to live their life in ananda, when we try to penetrate our life with ananda, miraculous transformation can happen. We do not know the miracles that can be performed by living in ananda. When ananda enters, consciousness enters. In consciousness, thousands of things can happen in our lives. One should attempt living one entire day consciously.

The next thing that people ask me is, 'If my mind decides to be in misery, what should I do?' Live in misery, what is wrong with that!

Abdullah said, 'If my mind decides to live in misery, it is perfectly alright. It enjoys misery; that is why it decides to be in misery.' If we don't enjoy misery, we will never choose misery.

Actually, we enjoy misery and that is why we choose it. We have our own vested interest in all our diseases, in all our miseries; otherwise we would not bring them into our lives. It is our decision. We often forget that we invited misery, and we also forget how we invited it. When we fall sick, we are attended to. So the need for attention makes us feel sick. Children use this technique. If we don't give them attention, they come to us with a headache, stomach pain, or a slight fever. It is a mental habit. So if one decides to have misery, decides to have sadness, enjoy it! There is nothing wrong; it is perfectly alright. But enjoy it consciously. If we understand this story, then we will understand the meaning of the word 'eternal'. Eternal does not mean the past, present and future. Eternal means only one thing - the present. It means living in this moment which is the only thing available to us.

Abdullah said, 'I don't decide ahead for two continuous days, because if I decide for two days I will never practice it.' Decide for each day. Every morning when you wake up just ask yourself, 'Ram, what do you want? Do you want to be in sorrow, or do you want to be joyful? If your mind says, 'I want to be blissful,' then be blissful, be joyful. It is your conscious decision. Your conscious decision can work miracles.

Buddha says, 'If you drop one handful of lime in a pool of muddy, dirty water, within an hour all the dirt will settle. The water will become crystal clear.' In the same way, conscious decisions are like lime, which can clear the dirt or mud from the pool of our mind. Just add a little conscious decision and you can see the miracles done by this conscious decision. Conscious decisions can lead to the ultimate alchemy or transformation in our systems. In other words, a great transformation can take place by our conscious decisions. So 'eternal' or nithya does not mean past, present or future. Nithya means the present only, never the past or the future.

The present is nithya. If we think 'eternal' means past, present and future, we will not be able to do anything because we have no hand in the past and have no hand in the future; we have our hand only in the present. So if 'eternal' is understood as meaning the past, present and future, then we have no decision to make; we have nothing to do. If we understand 'eternal' to mean the present, only then do we have something to do. So understand, 'eternal' means present. According to Abdullah's technique, decide only for twenty-four hours, not more than that. Even that is too much! You should flow with just the moment! Then you flow with Existence!