Be happy and content!
We should think about two main goals for ourselves in life:
#1. What is it that you want to achieve in life.
#2. What do you wish to give or contribute to society before you leave this planet.
Both these goals should go hand in hand in life. See, you can have a goal for yourself, and you can also change it after sometime, if you like. But you should also think about what you would like to do for the world, and how would you like the world to be; how would you like society to be? Have that goal also in mind. This is Puja.
Pray for three things in life: Purity in the heart; clarity in the mind and sincerity in action.
The ultimate journey starts with one step. Just do not sit and dream about the ultimate. Instead, begin your journey towards the ultimate.
Take small steps towards the Truth; towards this inquiry into life – “What is the goal of life?” This very inquiry can take you far. Everything has some significance in life.
Just eating alone is not the goal of life. Yet eating is essential for sustaining life. Isn’t it? Similarly, sleeping is not the goal of life. But can you discard sleep altogether? No, you cannot. In the same way, you have to be happy and you also have to make others happy. This is the journey towards the Ultimate.
What is the ultimate Truth, or the ultimate purpose of life? I tell you, one who really knows will not tell you, and anyone who does tell you, simply does not know. That is the secret.
This is a very good question. It is a million dollar question. I want you to keep this question with yourself. I will never take it away from you, because this question is like a vehicle for you to transform your life, make unwanted things drop off from your life and help you reach the Ultimate. So keep this question with you. You are on the right track.
Share it with more and more people. Joy or wisdom if not shared with others starts dwindling. Now this does not mean you go to others and start teaching them Bhastrika Pranayama, or the Sudarshan Kriya. Unless you get properly trained, you should not go about teaching meditation and these practices to others. This is why we had to put a quality control for Yoga in the country today. There is a QCI (Quality Control for India) body and the government has asked it to do something for Yoga also. It is because it is observed that people learn something from somewhere and then go around teaching it to others without proper training. Then when some unwanted or unexpected things happen it becomes a problem. There is a proverb in Sanskrit – “Yasya kasya tarur-mulam yena kenapi churnitam; yasmai kasmai pradaatavyam yatvaa-tatvaa bhavishyati” (From the Subhashita). It means that someone may bring the root of any tree, grind it into a fine powder and give it off as medicine to others. And something or the other may happen to the other person by taking that (untested) medicine. The same is what is happening with Yoga also these days. People practice Yoga for just a week and proclaim themselves to be Yoga instructors and teachers. There needs to be a proper quality system in place for Yoga also, and there should be levels or stages of training and certification. Until then, do not just go and train others. But you should always talk to other people about Yoga and bring more awareness about it. You should definitely inspire and encourage others for this.
That is good. That is the contrast in life every day. When you come back home from your job, relax and sit for meditation for a few minutes every day. Nothing stops you from doing that.
Just like we have dental hygiene, meditation is for your mental hygiene. Listen to knowledge regularly. That is why I have made so many talks. For nearly seven years every Wednesday, I used to make some knowledge sheets which are compiled in the book called Intimate Note to the Sincere Seeker. Pick up knowledge sheets from that, or play some knowledge talk and listen to that.
Meditation is more relevant when you are very busy, and when you have a lot of responsibilities to attend to. If you have nothing to do, what is the point of you sitting in meditation? Why would you need energy then? You need energy and intelligence when you need to use it. If you have nothing to do, what is the need for a lot of intelligence?
I tell you, every profession has its ups and downs. Sometimes you will like your profession; later on, you do not like it. Ask a doctor, or an engineer, or a politician about this. At some point or the other in their career they all feel frustrated. They do not like their profession sometimes and feel they should just quit. Why? It is because you experience a burn-out. Why does the burn-out happen? It is because you never went into the other dimension that is deep within you. If you take some time off regularly, at least twice or thrice a year to attend a Silence workshop and the advanced meditation in Silence, you will find that you are recharged. Your enthusiasm comes back, and then any job you do, you will do with the utmost responsibility, keenness and awareness. You need to revive your spirit and that can only happen through meditation.
