Accept & Move On!

(Below is a continuation of the post Who Are You?)

Every event that you experience in your life here and now has some meaning and is a result or an effect of something that has happened in the past. So, when you see the link between the cause and the effect of the events around you, you can become very peaceful.

Suppose you receive a (parking) ticket because you had violated a traffic law somewhere, and you forgot about it. What will happen to you? You will get agitated. But if you are reminded, that you had violated the traffic laws, then you know the cause of the effect you are experiencing in your life. When you know this, what happens? You become peaceful and you accept the situation. Then there is no agitation and no questioning. There is no anger because you know that what you are experiencing today is because of what you did yesterday. You accept and move on.
With the lack of the knowledge (of the cause), you sit and wonder, ‘Why did this happen? Why did that happen?’ This is no good. You’re digging your mind. Instead, you must think of your origin. You may not get an answer right away; nor tomorrow or for another few years, but the journey that it will kick off will yield enormous results; more than you can ever expect. This is viveka.
Viveka means that inner discrimination, seeing what is changing, what is not changing, what is permanent and what is temporary.

We are made up of two things, something that changes and something that does not change. Look at a picture of you that has been taken a few years back and look at you now, are you the same? No!
We know that the body is constantly changing. All our cells change in one year. Our blood changes every 24 hours. Our skin changes every month, the lining in our stomach changes every five days, the bone marrows changes. In one year many things in our body change. Similarly our thoughts change and our emotions change.
So, how do we know that everything is changing? It is because there is something that is not changing and this something is very interesting. It expands and it contracts.

Suppose if someone compliments you, what happens to you? You feel a sense of expansion. And when someone blames you for something you have not done, what happens to you? You feel that something inside you is shrinking.
What is this something that expands and shrinks within you? That is worth knowing, and it is the same thing that doesn’t change. Something in you never changes, but sometimes it expands and sometimes it contracts. This is our experience. How would it be if you could have control over this something that expands and contracts, and not allow it to be a football of someone else’s words? Wouldn't it be great if you could be in control of your own happiness? That is exactly what is the impact of meditation!
Meditation is understanding this something inside us which expands and contracts, and keeping it in our control rather than it being controlled by situations, circumstances or the people around us.
So, this something in us which is the same throughout our life, and which is not very tangible, is worth knowing. It is what you are.

So, coming back to the same questions, ‘What is your origin and where will you go after this body gets dropped?’
This body drops, but something moves away from the body, and nothing can destroy that. Earlier you heard a song which said, ‘Nothing can burn it, nothing can wet it, nothing can bury it. It does not die with death’.
This something in us is beyond destruction. Even if this body is destroyed, this cannot be destroyed.
Can you destroy air? No! You have a pot and inside the pot there is space and in the space there is air. You can destroy a pot but can you destroy the air or the space? That is impossible! And that space is what we are.

Are you all still here? I am trying to make it as simple as possible so that you can get it, otherwise this knowledge can go well above the head!
Once someone asked, how is it that when I sit for a philosophical talk I fall asleep? Someone answered that these talks are like a bed of roses, it gives you inner comfort and so you can fall asleep.

So, once in a while, find some time to take a walk and ask yourself, ‘Who am I? What am I to myself?'
You are a husband to somebody, wife to somebody, daughter to somebody, but what is your relationship with yourself? Who am you?
Ask yourself, 'What do I want? Don’t I see that everyone lives for a short period on this planet and then their bodies are put back into the Earth? So who am I to myself?' These questions will elevate your life to another level, to another dimension and I tell you life begins only then. Then you will see that life is eternal, it is not just a few roles that we play. It is a continuum.
We have come here on this planet so many times. It is just that I know it and you don't know; not that you cannot know it, you too can know and that is why I am telling you to enquire about your source.
Your life is not limited to 80-90 years, it is eternal; so blissful! All the chaos that happens around you is just to keep you on your toes.
I like some chaos, it adds thrill to life. If you sit back and watch, it is so much fun. All this chaos adds fun to life. So, if you see every event in life from a bigger perspective, you see that it is all fun and it is worth having.

When people come to the Bangalore Ashram, I often say, 'Leave your problems with me'. So one lady said, ‘My mother-in-law is my problem. Can I leave her here?’ I said, ‘Let me ask your mother-in-law, what is her problem and then you both may have to stay together!' (Everybody in the audience laughs!)

We live like paupers sitting on a treasure. We have treasures of lifetimes with us, but we are crying, wailing and mourning for nothing. If there is anything that can uplift you from misery, sorrow and disgust, it is this knowledge of our origin.

Imagine that we are all going to die in another ten days, then who are you going to be jealous of? Who are you going to be angry with? What is it that you will want? All that you have earned and all that you have done will remain here, and you will be gone.
The small mind which is irritating us everyday suddenly loses its grip over our life and we start blossoming. It will bring a smile, confidence and intuition that nothing else can give you.

There is a beautiful couplet in Srimad Bhagavatam, 'Janmādy asya yato 'nvayād itarataś cārthesv abhijñah svarāt'.
The awareness of the origin and its culmination brings you inner freedom. That consciousness is so magnanimous, so beautiful!

'Tene brahma hrdā ya ādi-kavaye muhyanti yat sūrayah. Tejo-vāri-mrdām yathā vinimayo yatra tri-sargo 'mrsā. Dhāmnā svena sadā nirasta-kuhakam satyam param dhīmahi'
That something has the brilliance of a million suns, it is the source of happiness. Let that consciousness which is more real that the real (most true) inspire my intellect, and may I be soaked in that truth.
What is truth? Truth is that which doesn’t change in the past, present or future, it remains the same. It is the Summun Bonum of this creation and into that let my intellect soak, and that is what is meditation!