Continuation of last month's article I think I won't be far out if I say that this business of cleaning of samskaras is perhaps unique to the Sahaj Marg system. I may not have a merciful God, but I have a merciful Master who has evolved a technique of cleaning, which says that in one session of cleaning, the samskaras of many hundreds of lives can be removed - can be removed. Whether it is removed or not depends on you. Often, you know, in the winter (this is a secret I am letting out, Jacky perhaps knows) often in the winter when it's very cold, I walk into the shower and out, as if I had a shower, but I don't have it. I mean, I told you, keep it a secret! Because, you know, my bathing every day is one of my samskaras, having been born a Brahmin. The Brahmin is one who suffers under extraordinarily ridiculous circumstances - self-imposed, confining himself to a narrow view of life - that a Brahmin must get up at four-thirty in the morning, which I do every morning. Stupid me, I cannot break that habit. I must bathe every morning - a second Brahmin habit. My skin is as dry as a fish. In fact, when I was in school my classmates used to joke, you know, that when they saw the cracked skin they said, "When you are dead, leave your body to me. I'll make a suitcase out of it!" So you see, because of that I don't bathe. Now what can you do about this? But, being a Brahmin, if I am at home, and when my father was alive he said, "Have you had your bath?" We were trained to go from the bedroom to the bathroom, have a bath, and then only come out. So, like samskaras, which are neither good nor bad, habits are also there, which are neither good nor bad. I have a feeling that a good habit is as bad as a bad habit because it is enslaving you into a pattern of existence which need not be. "I must have coffee in the morning." Well, I like this particularly beautiful Italian coffee, packed in a black carton with gold lettering, and the coffee inside is superb. It's one case where all that glitters is gold, unlike the chocolates that the Swiss market in the shape of coins and biscuits of gold, which only contain chocolate inside. So, what is good, what is bad? Your Shakespeare from your Western culture said, "Nothing is good or bad, but thinking makes it so." Voila! If I think that something is bad, it stinks for me. If I think it is good, fish and chips! It's a good habit, you see, in the Western world, especially in this part of the country. Fish and chips is something of a staple diet. But for me, when I pass the environs of such a shop [sniffing the air], I curse myself for being where I am! So, what is good, what is bad? Vegetables are good. It's fashionable to say, "Yes." In France, they eat the salad first and then everything else because, as Madeleine Badach, my healer, always says, "Cru must be eaten first - raw - and the cooked later." But here they eat the cooked food first and the salad later. So what should we follow? Which rules should we respect? What should be our attitude to these conglomerates of dieting habits, toilet habits, so many habits which you have formed? Again to mention an unmentionable, I have problems with my intestines. And I discovered very late in life, that is, recently, that every time I eat I have to go to the toilet. So I consulted my gastroenterologist. He said, "What is wrong with that? That is how children behave." And it is the natural way. But we are trained out of it by a society in which we have no time to go to the toilet other than the one stipulated, which is early morning. And you suffer the consequences - you have to catch an early plane, you are holding your stomach, praying like hell, you know, that my stomach should behave itself, because it's a forty minute flight, there won't be time to go to the toilet, and in any case, some fellow who has had his breakfast before me will be there before me! Another habit, another consequence, another unnecessary suffering. So there are no good habits, bad habits. There are no good manners, bad manners. There are only effective habits, effective manners. If I want to do something with somebody, I must have manners effective to that situation - relevant. In a spiritual life, relevance is extraordinarily necessary, extraordinarily important. Am I doing what is relevant to the moulding of my future? People often ask, "Well, Chari, you know, if I do this, what's wrong? A little drink? Surely it's not going to pollute my soul. You have yourself said that the soul has no capacity of being polluted or ennobled. It is as it is, as it was, and as it shall ever be." Yes, but this human life is given to us precisely to liberate that poor thing which, by whatever you may call it, has become enshrined in the carnal world, in a carnal body, with carnal appetites. So, bhog is the process of undergoing the effect of these samskaras. But, unfortunately, because we carry the burden of such enormous bhog, one life is not enough. That is why cleaning, as an effective technique of removing samskaras, is such a blessing to us. Some people ask me, "If Babuji is so merciful, why does he permit any bhog at all?" Because some bhog is necessary to put some sense into this solid nonsense here, which we call a head, and inside which I firmly believe there is a brain. So you see, some bhog is necessary to teach us how to behave, how not to behave. In the case of a man who loses the very first time he puts up on a horse, he may never go back to racing again. You know, they always say, "Gamblers luck - first time, you win," so that lady of gambling can tempt you again and again. "Oh, I won the first time; I am going to win the second time. Double my bet." So, success is a lure. It's like the fly you throw into the river to catch a trout or a salmon - excuse me, I'm not a fisherman, but having read something about some type of fly, you know, I believe they have different flies to catch different fish. They are caught. The fish thinks it is going to have a happy time with this fly floating just above it on the glittering surface of the river, and the fisherman knows he is going to eat it. So these luring things, you see, alluring things - they are baits. Babuji said, "Avoid anything that creates an impression." There is nothing wrong in the universe, there is nothing wrong in nature - not even fish. Not even women - they are all good, very lovable, cuddly, soft, gentle. Occasionally the opposite! But it depends on you what it or she or he is going to be. It depends only on you. Here again comes the need to be able to accept responsibility even in a relationship. Because unless I am what I wish to be - peaceful, happily married, leading a blissful life - I cannot do it. I have to want it first, I have to change myself first. Then the possibility exists that what I see in the mirror will also be changed. Otherwise we will be like this stupid queen, you know, who was asking every morning, "Who is the fairest of them all?" I mean, a fair woman doesn't need confirmation from her mirror every morning. She is beautiful, she knows it, and you don't need a silly mirror to tell that to you. A strong man doesn't have to go around beating people to prove to himself that he is strong. These are signs of insecurity. Because every one of us knows in our hearts that we are not what we pretend to be. And this pretension is called personality. "Oh, he has a personality. He has a presence." Yes, but what is he inside? What is he behind that mask behind which he is hiding? A seething mass of samskaras trying to burst out, which, in most societies which are called primitive, do burst out, and the bhog is finished. But in polite societies they are hidden under a cloak of civilisation, culture, good behaviour, etiquette, etc. You would like to scream and squeeze somebody's neck, but you have to shake hands and say politely, "Good evening. Welcome!" Now, this is deepening the samskaras. I am not suggesting that we should squeeze each other's neck - not at all. But we pay a heavy price for civilisation. It is not irrelevant to this discussion to look at the way primitive peoples are happy under all circumstances, whereas civilised humans are only happy under certain selected circumstances. "The chicken is good, but the plate is dirty," and the man cannot eat. He suffers. "Oh," he says, "I suffer, Chari, because you know I like my cutlery and my crockery to be spic and span." "But what about the chicken on it?" "Oh, no, but you see, in India you will do it, but here we like, you know, this plate that I have got here is, what is that, Jensen in Denmark? Jensen's pottery, Jensen's plates, at two hundred and fifty dollars each." But does it change the taste of the food that I am eating? Unless I am so stupid that I think the plate has a taste of its own. So you see, civilisation perhaps makes us create more and more samskaras by negating our inner self and by creating an artificial self which we call a personality, in the hope of succeeding in interpersonal relationships, in one's corporate life, and even in one's spiritual life. Because people behave, even with the so-called Master, from behind a mask. Why are some afraid of the Master? It is not only guilt. It is this idea that, "I am not what I assume myself to be, or what I want to show myself to be. And that blighter knows! Look at that piercing glance he is throwing in my direction." One lady has been blaming me for the last two days, saying that, "You looked at me in such a piercing way that in the last two nights I haven't been able to sleep," etc. Just a glance of love, you see. If you don't look they are unhappy. "Oh, he never looked at me. He did not like me. He doesn't love me. He didn't even look in my direction!" North, south, east, or west - I suppose in the future we'll have to carry a compass and make sure that we have gone round the whole circle! So you see how ridiculous it is that, even before the Master, the Irish behave very 'Irishly', the British behave very 'Britishly', of course, and the Indian very 'Indianly', the females very femininely - fluttering their eyelashes even at a Master, hoping that in some way they can attract him. I mean, it's not rare that a woman does this. Again, I repeat, it is because we are what we are, and we cannot help being what we are until we change ourselves into what we want to be. So the flutterer of eyelashes continues to flutter her eyelashes, the winker continues to wink, the curser continues to curse - I don't mean the cursor on the computer screen, but one who curses all the time. He says, "That blasted blighter. That stupid Indian. He doesn't understand Gaelic. He doesn't even speak good English. It's Indian-English." As if English-English exists. I haven't seen English-English even in England, except perhaps the Queen, because it's supposed to be the Queen's English or the King's English, and what they speak, nobody understands! So you see, this idea of samskara is a very pleasant subject. Because, I repeat, if I am what I am because of what I thought and what I did, I am a free person. I am not bound by any theology which says God created and Adam fell, and the fall was the original sin, etc., which are convenient means of blaming God and escaping our own responsibility. That is easy. Churches have made money through the millennia by putting guilt on us, by blaming us, and saying, "Well, if you put your shilling or a pound on the plate, I will pray for you." Nobody else can pray for you. Only love can produce a prayer which can be effective. And if you want to pray for someone, make sure it is a loved one, meaning that you love him or her enough to pray for her in a systematic, in a sincere, in a real way with feeling of the heart. Prayer doesn't mean, you know, genuflection and an offering made big enough to satisfy the whims of the God before you for the moment. So where there is no love to back prayer, that prayer is useless. You might as well address the postcard to God, Heaven, Above Ireland, 17,000 Feet, and post it. It won't reach. "My words fly up, my thoughts remain below; words without thoughts, never to Heaven go." It's an old, old, old thing which we were taught in church. You know, I belong to the Protestant church. When I say, "I belong," I don't really belong, but I was educated under the Protestant system. Now you see, if I can change myself, what external source do I need? I have to accept responsibility, which is coming from within me. I have to do the cleaning, which I do myself. And I have to have the bhoga of such samskaras that are necessary for forming my character, which is again my activity. So who else do I need? Perhaps one or two of you may say, "The Master." Yes. What for? To guide you. To help you. Therefore, Babuji said, 'spiritual guide'. 'Master' is a term which is rather unnecessary, because it immediately creates the idea that one is a master, the other is a slave. You know, we are always thinking in terms of opposites. If I am not rich, I must be poor. I may be neither. If I am not healthy, I must be sick. Nonsense! I can be in an in-between state where I am neither healthy nor sick, and enjoying it very much. Food may not be tasty, but it may not be unpalatable, too. It is just simple. So, we have forgotten that there is a via media between two extreme opposites, and we are swinging between the opposites, never touching the middle path, the middle position. One who is not beautiful is not necessarily ugly, isn't it? One who is not white certainly need not be black. One who is not God need not be the devil. In between, we are there - the humans - sometimes divine, sometimes devilish. So you see, this spirituality, especially Sahaj Marg, is absolute proof that my destiny can be moulded by myself. And if anybody asks, "What is the proof, Chari?", it is my samskara, because what I created, I can destroy. So Babuji says, "Destroy your creation and His creation comes into being." What is my creation? All the false values which I have assimilated into myself, for myself, by myself. Ideas of civilisation, ideas of propriety, ideas of male and female, ideas of God and the devil and the human being - everything has to go. Therefore, Babuji Maharaj said, "Where religion ends spirituality begins," because they are in different dimensions. It does not mean negating religion. Religion has a place in the lives of people who are not able to transcend religion. For them, the church is a very necessary place. Like for the sick, a hospital is necessary. But everybody is not sick, so why should I be in a hospital unless I am sick? And why should I be in a church or a temple or anything like that unless I need a God whom I have never seen, whom I shall never know, and in whom I have no faith? They are institutions, and institutions benefit only those who can benefit from such institutions. A boy who goes to school and does not study will not pass. It's not the school which makes him pass. It is his study which makes him pass the examination. You have to co-operate. Here, too, we have to co-operate. In what way? Accept the teaching, accept responsibility for evolution, stop blaming the Master or God or your parents. No guilt, because what I did, I did - the past cannot be changed; it is irremediable. But, from now on my future is definitely in my two hands, and neither God nor the devil have a part to play in it. They are playing their part in some cosmic functions. So, to me, the existence of samskaras, which I have not seen before, which Babuji Maharaj taught me about, was a fascinating promise of my future. Because without samskaras, had I been living, I would have had no future, I would have no personal part to play in moulding my future. Even my Master could not have created anything in me. So samskaras are wonderful things. They reveal to me. They speak to me and say, "Well, you did this and this; therefore you are suffering. Now undo it. Change yourself. You ate chocolate and had a migraine? Stop eating chocolates." So we should not be worried about samskaras. It is the only proof to me that I am a responsible person who, having behaved perhaps irresponsibly in the past, can nevertheless behave with responsibility in the future and reap the benefits of a life responsibly lead, towards a future that can be had only by a responsible person who takes responsibility for himself or herself, in the real sense of doing what is necessary and avoiding what is not, doing what is effective and throwing away everything else. There is no place for emotions, false faiths, affiliations, because they are all confining things. The Catholic is no more than a Catholic - merely a Catholic. A Christian is no more than a Christian - just a Christian, a mere Christian. So also a Buddhist, a Hindu, and all these people. Why should I be confined within the four walls of a church or between the pages of dogma and ritual, which I don't understand, in which I have no faith, but yet out of fear, I do. Yet, negating that fear by saying, "God is love." We are a living lie, every one of us, when we say, "God is love," and we go and pray to Him and say, "God forgive me." God does not forgive. We have to forgive ourselves. In what sense? As Babuji said, "The true repentance is the challenge of not doing the same thing again." That is true repentance, not, you know, the beads and the hundred Miserere, or whatever it is. That is a false thing, because there you are thinking of it all the time and the samskara is becoming deeper and deeper. Here, we forget the past, give our past into the Master's hands. Because he helps us to remove the samskaras. He does most of the work. He is the Blessed to whom we should be grateful. So the past is what we surrender to him. "The future," he says, "create yourself. I am there to help you. I am there to take you by the hand to your goal. I am always with you. You don't need to pray to me, you don't need to bow before me, you don't have to give me anything. But please give me your past." I hope something is clearer now. If necessary, we shall speak about this again. Thank you. (Talk given in Dublin, Ireland on August 17, 1994, printed in Constant Remembrance, October 1994) |
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