How is it that a man is given four punishments for a single wrong? Man is a complex being. Whenever he does a good or bad thing, the mind thinks, and the heart decides, and human organs begin their function. In both these, there has been help from mind and heart. The sense organs which functioned also remained guilty. And as this is a part of the body, the body also is responsible whenever we think of bad things we leave impressions of the bad thoughts in the atmosphere. Nature will punish for it separately. One would get bad life or hell according to the wrong he has done. He will be punished in hell to the extent to which he ought to be; the rest will have to be undergone by taking a birth in this world. Mind, which felt the action to be bad, underwent the punishment. Its effect was bad and this was the punishment to the heart. Society also hooted him out. He got hell because he had spoiled the atmosphere. The third punishment was that which the body and its associates got. Thus, all those that helped in doing wrong got punishment.

“When I saw the beloved, my mind got stirred. The fault was of the eyes, but the heart was stabbed”.

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MISERIES

People often complain of miseries, throwing the entire responsibility for them upon God. They say that it is He who brings miseries down upon them in order to cause them pain. But does His heart never move with pity or compassion for all their sufferings? Presumably not, as they usually find it. Why not then remain away from such a cruel tyrant? Will you be able to satisfy such people? Science or philosophy no doubt offers some reply to it, but finally they all remain silent. Why should you therefore worry yourself by thinking on those lines? That course is definitely opposed to the feeling of inner peace. We should ever be after tracing out the reality of things and that is what spirituality implies. Instead of taking the fulfillment of desires as a punishment, it would be better to treat the very existence of desires as a form of punishment.

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MISERY, IT’S BEGINNING AND END

One who is born in this world is sure to taste miseries. One cannot escape from it. That is why we try to get rid of these things by going into penance; and Rishis (sages) have devoted themselves thoroughly towards it. There is no remedy for overcoming these miseries except devoting ourselves towards Godly thoughts of purest nature. Our thoughts are scattering the main current like the canals in the river making the river weak. The river cannot flow in torrents if so many canals have been dug out from it. The same is the case with us. Our ideas and thoughts always seem to have wings, and so they have made the main stream weaker. During puja we draw in these things and consolidate them in one flow. The thought will have the same force from which so many canals have been made. So the process we adopt is that we go deeper and deeper into the vast expanse. The force of going towards It draws in the water spreading into all corners towards the force of pious thoughts. The result is that the scattered superfluous things come to the main and supreme current which is now to flow towards the Almighty — the main goal and place of our destination.

All that is born of attachment is misery. Pain and pleasure both contribute to miseries. “If a man were not born, he would not have been subject to these miserable states. The condition which causes birth is the force of the will which turns out into the tendency or predisposition to be born. The cause of this tendency is the mental clinging to, or grasping the object of, the world, and this clinging is due to our thirst or craving to enjoy objects, sights, and sounds, etc. The cause of our desire is our previous experience tinged with pleasant feelings. But sense experience cannot arise but for contact of sense organs with an object, and this contact again would not arise had there been no organs of cognition — the five senses and Manas. The six organs depend for their existence on the body-mind organism which constitutes the perceptible being of man. This organism could not develop in the mother's womb if it were dead or devoid of consciousness, but the consciousness which descends into the embryo in the mother's womb is only the effect of impressions (Sanskar) of our past existence. The impressions which we make for rebirth are due to Avidya. If perfectly realised, there would not arise in us any karma resulting in rebirth”. Thus says Mahatma Buddha.

I perfectly agree with these ideas laid down by Gautama Buddha. If we go with the full force at our command towards our main goal, the world would itself become a second thought. Go on doing the process of meditation till it is matured. This is the last stage of meditation. When we become one with the real thing, the things following it grow so dark that we do not perceive them. In other words, we become blind in this respect and our vision for the real things improves and we bring it to such a standard that we are lost altogether. When this condition comes we feel that we are in the state of liberation. If this condition is matured then there is the end of all miseries — no pain, no sorrow, no enjoyment and no pleasure. The machinery of body now works without producing impressions upon us. In other words, the body becomes an automatic machine which runs by itself as duties demand. Here is the end of everything and there is no making of sanskaras. Here is the point where we surrender ourselves in toto automatically. This is the essence (Tattva) of the Bhagavad Gita. This is the condition which the angels crave for. It is reserved for the human being alone. Dear friend, do you not crave for it? I think everyone of us must endeavour to achieve this end. The thing is not as difficult as it seems to be, and to me it is as simple as anything. Absorbency in the pious thoughts achieves this goal.

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ACCEPTANCE OF DIFFICULTIES

Everyone is apt to receive blows in the life of this world, and this has happened in your case regarding your salary. If you cannot think this as a gift from the beloved, think it is from Satan and you will have some courage. The heaviness will disappear by God's grace and probably it has already disappeared.

According to Islamic conviction we are said to be the offsprings of Adam who was thrown on this earth for having eaten the forbidden fruit. Naturally, the same thing should pass in us all. But, brother, crores of years have passed since the happening of this event. How can there be any effect of it now in your blood? That effect was lost being mixed in blood. Of course, eve, his wife, has not left chasing us. For generations together she has been manifesting herself. This very eve brought us to heaven from our homes, and we were also kicked to this earth by her boots. Brother, what a degradation! Now, if we stop running after this eve, we will once again regain the lost paradise. Forget the idea that you were Adam, and lo, you will reach the very original abode from which you have come! The story of Adam and eve finds its correspondence in the story of Manu and Satarupa in our Hindu mythology. You forget that you are Adam, and to free you from Eve is my responsibility. You are now, however, meditating upon the form to get rid of the idea of Adam. Ghalib has written:

“When there was nothing, God was there. Had I not become this, I would have become God. This ‘becoming’ has ruined me. What would have happened had I not been?”

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SCOLDINGS

Even scoldings are endured in love but, dear brother, there is a strange sweetness in those scoldings. And those scoldings can come only under intoxication of love. Such a one will never be of loose and low morals. I shall write a famous verse of Surdas which he has uttered in the love of Krishna: ‘You are getting out of the grip of my hand, thinking me to be weak; but I shall consider you really a man if you can get out of my heart'. He said this when he had fallen into a well as he was blind, and Krishnaji Maharaj had got him out. Then he had gripped the hand of Krishna saying that he would not let him go. But Krishna ran away, getting out of his grip.

All commit mistakes, and it is the nature of human beings to err. And, dear brother my master had said to me, ‘I shall forgive all the mistakes of others but not a single one of yours'. I was, no doubt, pleased that this special treatment is due to his special love. A story goes:

Majnu smeared his body with ashes and took to begging due to the separation from his beloved Laila. Laila used to distribute bread to the poor every Thursday. Her real intention was that Majnu too should come to her with his begging bowl. She would break away his bowl instead of giving him the bread. And Majnu would get intoxicated with the treatment, and would dance with ecstatic joy. The people asked him, “Friend, what a fool you are! She gives bread to all others but breaks your bowl, and you dance in mad love”. He replied: “This treatment is for me alone, and this is the specialty of her love”.

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WORRIES - Heaviness

You have written that the worldly worries create heaviness in the heart. This proves that the heart is purified to such an extent that even the sweet fragrance of the flower cannot be endured by it. Nevertheless, the worries should be in the flying form so that the heart may not be aware of them.