Religious Life

The so-called religious life varies from clime to clime, from sect to sect, from belief to belief; and man suffers through the propaganda of the organised vested interests of religions. If we could set aside all that-not only the beliefs, the dogmas and rituals but also the respectability which is entailed in the culture of religion-then perhaps we could find out what a religious life is untouched by the thought of man.
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Silence

Meditation is a movement in stillness. Silence of the mind is the way of action. Action born of thought is inaction, which breeds disorder. This silence is not the product of thought, nor is it the ending of the chattering of the mind. A still mind is possible only when the brain itself is quiet. The brain cells-which have been conditioned for so long to react, to project, to defend, to assert--become quiet only through the seeing of what actually is. From the silence, action which does not bring about disorder is possible only when the doer has come to an end-for then the seeing is the acting. Such seeing is possible only out of a silence in which all evaluation and moral values have come to an end.
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Thought

Can a human being, you and I, or another, can we come upon life that has no death? Can we come upon a life that is really timeless? Which means a life in which thought, which creates the psychological time with its fear, comes to an end. Thought has its own importance, but psychologically it has no importance whatsoever. Thought is a mischief maker, thought is always seeking pleasure, inwardly, love is not pleasure, love is bliss, something entirely different. And when all that is seen very clearly and one lives that way not verbally, not in a world of misunderstanding, but when all that is very clear, very simple then perhaps there is a life that has no beginning and no end, a life of timelessness.
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Unity

Life is action, to live means to act; the religious life is a life of action, not according to any particular pattern, but action in which there is no contradiction, action which is not segmented, broken up as the business life, the social life, political life, religious life, family life and so on, as a Conservative or as a Liberal. To see that there is an action which is not fragmented, which is total, complete, and to live that way, is the religious life. You can only act in that way when there is love. And love is not pleasure, cultivated and sustained by thought; love is not a thing to be cultivated. It is only love that brings about this total action and that can possibly bring about this complete sense of unity. 
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Religious Life

Religion is to find out the ultimate reality. Man has always been asking if there is something other or beyond then this world. Because there is so much violence, conflict and unrest and inner confusion and mental agonies that man wants to escape and find something beyond it which can give him peace and happiness. Life is full of insecurity and fear in this world that man invents a God which can give him security and shelter. The priest and the religious authorities of traditional religions exploits the gullible people by further fostering this fear. But a fearful mind, scared mind can never be a religious mind. The first quality of religious life is fearless. Religious person is neither afraid of any one nor create fear in the mind of others. Religion is way of life in which there is inward harmony, feeling of complete unity and fearlessness.
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Religious Life

Most religions are based on concepts and ideology like immortality, incarnation, life after death, and so on. But the religion in the real sense is the realisation.
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Religious Life

To find out; what is a religious life is not to find out the pattern of religious life--what to do, what to wear, what to think and how to control, to be a bachelor, and all that stupid stuff-but to have this energy without a motive, without a direction; and that comes only when there is this deep, unresolved, unsatisfiable discontent. Religious mind has no belief of any kind. Because the beliefs, dogmas only clutter the mind, and impede the free enquiry. To follow a religious pattern is not to be religious. What to do, what to wear, what to think, and how to control to be a brahmchari, to perform rituals, all this does not make a man religious. Then how to find out what is religion. Going to a pandit or some sanyasi or a guru, or reading the scriptures. All these approaches can give you information or set opinion about religion, but does not make you religious. You have to be fearless in enquiry, and find for your ownself what it means rather than being tutored by others. Religion is deep investigation of oneself as one is.
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Religious Life

We must be totally discontented; then only can we begin to enquire into the mystery of life. As long as the child plays with different toys, he does not call his mother, but when he is hungry and discontented with all the toys, he cries for his mother. Similarly, unless and until nothing in the world can contain your mind, and your totally discontented with all objects, it is with this impassioned and intense mind free of all worldly desires that you can understand what the religious living is.
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Religious Life

Most of us are discontented, because we have not got a good job, we are not so intelligent as somebody else, we do not look so beautiful as that woman next door, we have not got a big car, a better house, a better job, or we have not fulfilled ourselves. And the moment we have a better house, a better car, a better refrigerator, we are satisfied, at least temporarily till a still better refrigerator is invented. So we are discontented with little things and we are so terribly satisfied with little things. One has to be extremely aware of the superficial gratification with petty things, petty answers, quoting innumerable so-called religious teachers. We think we have understood when we quote the Gita, the Koran, or the Bible, or some other book; we think we have captured some spirit of the religious life-which again is futile. So we must be extremely alert, not to be caught in superficial actions, and to remain in a total discontentment with everything: with politics, with religion, with socialists and communists, with any political party.
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Religious Life

To find out what is really, truly religious life, one has to be totally discontented and inquisitive. It requires total comprehension of life, the whole of it and not its particular or fragmented parts. It is religion which covers the whole of existence, the whole of our life can be contained in the enquiry, and the understanding of what is a religious life. Religious life, and living it actually not theoretically can solve many increasing and conflicting problems of man’s life.
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Religious Life

We live on this planet for short span of life, and then meet death. In despair, we say sometimes if the death is the end, then what is the use of living and all achievement. Then we begin to ask what death is, and what life is. We neither understand full meaning of life nor of death and imagine that there must be life beyond death. There must be a God who will give me peace, who will give me hope, a God of comfort, is called religion. Throughout the ages man has always clung to a belief in something beyond this life, because he has not known how to live happily, intelligently, and he has not understood that extraordinary thing called death. In ancient civilisations, when kings and other important people died, their jewels, their vessels, and sometimes even their slaves were buried with them, because they believed they would need their possessions in the next world.
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Religious Life

Everyone when asked what is religion, defines it according to his particular conditioning, according to his bringing up whether as a Hindu, a Muslim, a Buddhist or a Christian. Man has been working at this problem for thousands upon thousand years. There is a cave somewhere in France on the walls of which there are paintings which were done about 17,000 years ago. In one picture a man is seen fighting and killing a bull, and in another picture it is the man who is being killed. The bull represents evil, the man represents good, and they are pictured as always fighting each other, one conquering at one moment, and the other conquering at another moment. So, thousands of years ago people were asking about good and evil, about religion, about God. The religion therefore with all its paraphernalia is an age old seeking for man.
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Religious Life

Is it possible for the mind to be totally free of envy, not just partially or in patches? It is not possible for you because you think you must live as you are living now, and you block yourself by saying “It is impossible, I have to live in this world”. But the man who really sees what is happening in the world, who sees the misery, the struggle, the utter futility of it all, can inquire and find out that it is possible to be free of envy, not only in the superficial layers of the conscious mind, but also in the unconscious, which is much more conservative than the conscious mind. Only the mind that is totally free from envy is capable of understanding what is the religious life and why it is necessary to have a religious life, and such a mind knows the state of being sacred; therefore it need not go to any temple, church or priest. It has no need of any book, because in itself it is understanding and is an incorruptible treasure. Such a life is possible. But the mind that wants to be envious and says that it is necessary to live in this world, will escape into a religion which has no value at all; it will go to the church or the temple and do whatever it is told. To such a mind religion is just a toy. But a mind that really inquires-and the mind is not free to inquire as long as it is envious-will know what it is to have a profoundly religious life, which has nothing whatever to do with any belief, with any ritual or dogma, with any prayer; because then the mind in itself is the religious life.
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Religious Life

An ambitious mind is obviously an envious mind; and that is our life, it is how we live from day to day. You know that very well without my telling you. At least, I am describing a fact, and if you are unwilling to look at the fact, it is your affair. It is a fact that morality of such a society is mere respectability, the perpetuation of a custom. Our daily life is based on this envious, acquisitive struggle, and we carry the same struggle into the so-called religious life. As we want to achieve something in the worldly life, so we want to achieve reality, we want to get nearer to God, closer to heaven, and all the rest of it in religious life also. The same urge exists there as in this world: we want to be somebody. The same mind set which was working in the worldly life is now working in the religious life. The result is as we exhaust ourselves in the worldly pursuit so we exhaust ourselves in the religious pursuit also. We, therefore, have to understand can an envious mind be a religious mind or it has to be free from envy and jealousy.
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Envy

The very simple fact that our life is based on envy. That is so, is it not? Someone is more intelligent than I am, and I want to be equally intelligent; someone is more handsome, or has more money and can travel, and I want to be like him. The mind is constantly comparing itself with others, and such a mind is envious. A jealous mind is a miserable mind.
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What is religious life?

What is religious life? Is it different from our daily life? Do we want to turn to religious life because we are fed up with the routine life which is terribly boring, unsatisfactory. It is because we do not understand our everyday living with all its sufferings that we think we must turn to religion and find God somewhere else. The traditional approach of all religions has been to condemn worldly life and to create a wedge between the worldly life and religious life. People from ages without understanding the day today living and the working of the mind, have been running away in search of nirvana, moksha or heaven. Without understanding the day today living it is stupid to think of what is beyond the real fact of life. We can only go from known to the unknown.
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Holy Name

We all have to leave this world one-day. So long as you draw breath, you are somebody's mother, sister, daughter or wife. But the day you stop breathing, nobody will want you in the house. They will want you out as quickly as possible. Neither your husband nor your son will go with you. The only thing that will go with you is what you have earned through meditation. So realise this Knowledge, realise this all-pervading Name - this is what will go with you. The great devotee Mira was from Rajasthan. What faith she had in the Holy Name! Her husband tried to kill her by sending her a poisonous snake in a basket, but when she opened the basket she found a statue of Krishna inside. The husband tried again, by sending her a cup of poison. But Mira had unshakable faith in the Holy Name. She remembered it as she drank and the poison changed into nectar. If we have the same kind of faith in the Holy Name, no power can sway us. That is why it is said, "If God protects you, nothing can harm you, even if the whole world is against you."
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Satsang

Wet matches will not light, no matter how much you strike them against the matchbox, whereas one strike is enough to light a dry match. Likewise, if you mind is full of lust, anger, greed, pride, etc., you cannot know your true self, because you are full of negativity inside.
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Satguru

Satguru is like a boatman who ferries you from one bank of the river to the other. He takes us across the ocean of worldly existence. Only a seed, which dissolves itself in the soil, can grow into a plant. When a devotee dissolves himself at the Master's feet he is liberated.
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Devotee

When a farmer sows seeds. Some seeds get eaten by birds even before they can germinate. Some are scattered here and there and don't get enough water or fertiliser. They grow a little then no further. But those seeds which get enough water, good soil and fertiliser at the right times are the ones which produce the best crops. A tiny seed turns into a shoot then a strong plant or a mighty tree, providing cereals or fruit. We have to become like this type of seed. A devotee needs the showers of satsang. If he doesn't do meditation and service, he will not achieve self-realisation. If he doesn't do service, he cannot be called a devotee. He must be sincere, and if he serves the Master sincerely in thought, word and deed, he will succeed.
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Story

Once there was a king who proclaimed that the following day he was going to hide himself in his garden and any one who wished to be a contestant would have two hours to find him. The winner would be named there to the throne.


Soon the first contestants arrived. As soon as they entered the gardens they were amazed by all the glorious flowers. They thought to themselves, `we have two hours to find the king. First, let's enjoy the beautiful scenery.' They were so absorbed in their surroundings that they forgot everything else.


Then a second group of candidates arrived. They came across a magnificent feast spread right before them, with a great variety of desserts and other delicacies. They decided that, as they had two hours left, they would first enjoy all this food. Before they knew it, their time was up and the king's soldiers ejected them from the garden.
A third lot arrived. They were soon side tracked by a wonderful selection of delicious fruit that they came across.


The same thing happened to a fourth group. They were tempted by the precious stones they saw scattered all around. They said to each other, "Let's fill our pockets first" and they used up their two hours doing so. The king's soldiers threw them out of the park, too, and, worse still, they were not allowed to take anything with them.


Finally a man came along who was not interested in any of these things. He was not in the least tempted by the scenery, the fruit, the feast or the jewels- his sole purpose in coming to the gardens was to find the king. He questioned the head gardener and finally found the king's hiding place.


This is just a short story, but it symbolises what happens to all of us. This world is king of garden where God has hidden Himself. The Spiritual Master is that chief gardener. We enter the world but, instead of looking for God, we waste our time including our anger, lust, greed, pride and attachments. In other words, you have been born as a human being- use it to find God! The Master is always there to help you understand spiritual Knowledge. It doesn't matter whether it is Satyuga, Treta or Kaliyuga - the Master is always here to reveal this Knowledge to sincere aspirants.
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Truth of Life

Our life is passing by, day by day. Every day the sun rises, then before we know it, it sets and it's evening again, making our life one-day shorter. Most people are caught up in their worldly routines and don't realise this. Their worldly concerns are a net, which enmeshes them and chokes them. The spider spins its web and ultimately surrenders its life in it. In the same way, the worldly person is strangled by a web of domestic problems. He has spent his childhood playing and his youth chasing pleasures. Even when he is old he is still full of cravings. He says he will meditate tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes, but time certainly does catch up with him. When Death comes for him he is full of regret that he does not know God. And until a person realises God he cannot escape the wheel of birth and death and is bound to it for lives to come. A devotee, on the other hand, does not get stuck in Maya. He tries to realise God and escape the cycle of birth and death.
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Satsang

Lord Krishna did not deliver the teachings of the Gita for his own benefit, but for his devotee Arjuna's sake, so that Arjuna could be liberated. This transformation comes through satsang. Satsang is so pure and so powerful that it can save a person from catastrophe. What will listening to worldly people and their gossip do for you? It will only give you high blood pressure. Satsang will lower your blood pressure and make it normal! All the tension the world has caused you will go away. A person needs very little to live on, but how much tension and hassle he takes upon himself! It's something to think about. You can't take anything with you when you leave this world; you will have to leave everything behind. Even so, people carry such a load of tension around with them. Devotion teaches us to be aloof from worldly cares, to live like King Janak did. The lotus lives in dirty water but its flower is always above the water. This is how to live.
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Agya

You know how important discipline and orders are in the army. To prove this to his men, one commanding officer assembled them on the top of a mountain, which was so slippery with moss that one false step meant falling thousands of feet below. So this officer blindfolded a soldier and told him to start marching. The soldier did so and just as he reached the slippery part, his officer called out "Halt!" He stopped right there. If he had not obeyed immediately but had taken just one more step, he would have fallen. The rest of the battalion saw this and then they understood the importance of obeying orders. When the soldier's blindfold was removed and he saw where he was, he thought, `If I hadn't obeyed I would have fallen to my death.' It was just a matter of one more step.
Similarly, agya is extremely important for premies. If a devotee disobeys and takes a single wrong step it can lead to his ruin. Whatever merit he has accumulated from his devotion will be lost. On the other hand, if he follows agya, not a hair on his head will be harmed. Prahlad's father, King Hiranyakashyap, intended to tie him to a red-hot pillar, but the Lord appeared as a man-lion to save him. He had to take this shape because the king was protected by the boon that neither man nor beast would kill him. To save his devotee and kill the king, the Lord had to come in that form. So obeying agya is the prime duty of the disciple.
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Story

Once a poor brahmin went to a king and begged for alms. The king agreed to give him something but wanted him first to answer some questions. His first question was, "Why don't you have hair on the palms of your hands?" The brahmin was taken aback. He quickly remembered God and, after careful thought, replied, "Your Majesty, I am just a poor brahmin. My hands are always outstretched to beg. I live through others' donations, and that is why my palms are hairless." The king then asked, "Very well. Tell me why I don't have hairy palms. " The brahmin again remembered God and answered boldly, "Your Majesty, you are always giving. Your hands are always giving to others so how could hair grow on your palms?"
"Very good," answered the king. "Now tell me why these courtiers, who neither give nor receive, don't have hairy palms."
The brahmin replied, "It's like this. You keep on giving and I keep on taking. Your courtiers see this and it makes them wring their hands, so how could hair grow on their palms, either?" So into which category do we fall? Are we receivers or just hand-wringers? There are plenty of people who simply wring their hands.
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Human Life

We think that animals must be happy. We see a dog riding along in a car and we think that it is being very well looked-after. But you haven't seen a dog cooking its own food, have you? Cows give milk but you won't see a cow cooking milk-pudding. They have to eat whatever they are given. Theirs is a passive existence. A human life, on the other hand, is an active existence. People can create karmas. We can see how much humanity has achieved. We read in the Ramayana that Ravana made all the deities serve him, and this surprises us. But today, due to science, we can push a button and turn on a fan - we have conjured up the `wind-god'! We push a button and on goes the heater - we have invoked the `fire-god'! We push a button to turn on the light — we have invoked the `sun-god'! So we can see how much mankind has accomplished. You don't have to be a bird to fly - now we have aeroplanes! You don't have to become an elephant to do heavy work - we have bulldozers which can do the work of an elephant. In other words, people can do actions and suffer or enjoy the consequences of action, too. Really, human beings have so much potential. We are a bundle of energies, we have so much power. But we have turned our attention outwards and are just racing. We have done so much, but we haven't been able to go within ourselves, and this is why we lack peace.
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Tulsidas

Tulsidas used to water a certain tree and this pleased the spirit which lived in that tree. One day the spirit appeared to him and offered to give him anything he wanted. Tulsidas wasn't interested in anything else except Lord Rama, so he asked the spirit to show him Rama. The spirit replied, "I can't do that. If I could, I'd see Him myself and be freed from this spirit-form." That is why it is said in the Ramayana, "The soul which receives a human body is extremely fortunate."
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Realize

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna discusses the various ways in which people worship. He divides them into categories. He says that those who worship spirits and elementals will go to the spirits and elementals. Those who worship ancestors will go to the ancestors. Those who worship deities go to deities. Then he says, "Those who have Knowledge realize that I am the Giver of all.
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True Name

If you water the root, the water will automatically penetrate the entire tree. There are many names used for God, but these are all adjectival. But if you rely on the True Name, you will definitely be liberated. That is guaranteed.
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Meditate

The student who has studied all year is able to apply what he has learnt at examination time, whereas the student who hasn't studied cannot answer the questions. Nowadays students are allowed to take their books into the examination room, but that doesn't help the one who hasn't studied but hopes to scrape through by copying. The questions are framed in such a way that he won't know which part of the book to copy from. In other words, only students who have studied will pass. In the same way, the devotee who meditates all his life will be able to meditate when he dies, because meditation and devotion will have become his very nature. Remembering the Holy Name will have become second nature to him. That is why Kabir was able to say, "God remembers me while I relax."
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Dark Age

The main thing we teach in satsang is to meditate on the Holy Name of God. The way of the saints begins from here. There is no doubt about what they have said. No saint has ever said to follow any path, then leave it to follow another. They taught, "The One Way will give you everything." Trying to water the leaves of a tree is useless, but if you water its roots the water, as you know, will reach every part of the tree. This is why Guru Nanak said, "It's the Dark Age, so remember the Name!" Tulsidas said quite confidently, "In this present Age the only support is the Holy Name, and by remembering it you can be liberated." People follow one sect after another and that is why they don't get anywhere. It is written in the scriptures that whatever a person thinks about with his dying breath determines what happens to him thereafter. That is why we tell you to meditate, to remember the Name, because whatever you think about all your life is what you'll think about as you die. A lot of people think that they will meditate at the end of their life and be liberated. But will that be possible?
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