The Light Of God

5th October '91

Today morning, Swami suddenly asked for the Ist MBA boys, much to their pleasant joy. He blessed them with an interview. Swami asked if the boys had any problems.

Student: Swami, examinations are going on. Lots of tension and the pressure is too much.

Swami: You must not have tensions. In fact, you should be happy to write exams. Write and finish the exams one by one and thereby progressing higher and higher. Remember that the sooner you finish the exams, the faster you progress onward. Hence, you must not have any tension over exam.

A cyclist was going on the road without a light, so a policeman chased him and tried to stop him. But the cyclist shouted, "Don't try to stop me. I cannot stop because I have no brakes!" the policeman chased him, caught him and extracted a double fine. The light is the light of wisdom, brakes are the self control, The road represent the path of our life, police is the nature. If we do not have self control and wisdom, Nature ensures that we undergo punishment.

Yet another example. A group of students once went to Bandipur forest for a picnic. They wanted to cook food so they brought three stones to make a stove. The three stones are the three gunas. The first thing to do is indeed to balance the stones, i.e one must balance the three gunas. On this balanced plane, the pot is placed, the pot is the body. The water put in may be compared to the mind. The rice boiled is the desires. The fire used is the fire of wisdom. The fire cannot burn the desires directly. At first, it heats the pot, which boils the water and cooks the rice. When wisdom thus burns the desires, there will be no rebirth. When even a speck of dirt is in the ocean, it gets washed ashore at once, by a number of waves.

You are always thinking of the past and the future. You must think only of the present. You have all come here now. You have Swami's grace with you. Thinking of this, you must live only in the present and hence derive joy. Here is an example. Suppose that cauliflower curry has been served to you. If you start thinking about what dirty land it was grown in, what dirty drainage water was used to water it and what fertiliser was used, you will never enjoy the curry. Eat it without thinking of anything else. In the same way, do not get worried thinking of the past and the future. Think of the present. Derive joy from the present.

Take a piece of wood. If it comes into contact with fire, it becomes coal. One cannot wash this coal and make it white by using soap and water. the fire may be compared to your past samskaras. Incomplete burning of wood gives coal. Completely burning the wood gives ashes. Ash is light and white. To clean the black coloured coal and make it white, you must again put it back in the fire of good samskaras. It will then burn into ashes, which is white. The white signifies purity. The light signifies freedom.

When you are born as a baby, you cry "koham, koham". When you grow up, you say "I am..." but you must actually say "Soham , soham" I am not the body. The body is a gift from parents. You must attain the light of good- The Light Of God