32. Life is the Supreme Guru

Distressing situation may be temporary and local. Once over, it will be forgotten. Each man suffers alone and dies alone. Numbers are irrelevant. There is as much death when a million die as when one perishes.

Fear and greed cause the misuse of the mind. The right use of mind is in the service of love, of life, of truth, of beauty.

You can spend an eternity looking elsewhere for truth and love, intelligence and goodwill, imploring God and man - all in vain. You must begin in yourself, with yourself - this is the inexorable law. You cannot change the image without changing the face.

First realise that your world is only a reflection of yourself and stop finding fault with the reflection. Attend to yourself, set yourself right - mentally and emotionally. The physical will follow automatically. You talk so much of reforms: economic, social, political. Leave alone the reforms and mind the reformer. What kind of world can a man create who is stupid, greedy, heartless?

You cannot change the world before changing yourself.

I did not say - before changing everybody. It is neither necessary, nor possible to change others. But if you can change yourself you will find that no other change is needed. To change the picture you merely change the film, you do not attack the cinema screen!

All you need is to stop searching outside what can be found only within. Set your vision right before you operate. You are suffering from acute misapprehension. Clarify your mind, purify your heart, sanctify your life - this is the quickest way to a change of your world.

The world of things, of energy and matter? Even if there were such a common world of things and forces, it is not the world in which we live. Ours is a world of feelings and ideas, of attractions and repulsions, of scales of values, of motives and incentives, a mental world altogether.

Biologically we need very little, our problems are of a different order. Problems created by desires and fears and wrong ideas can be solved only on the level of the mind. You must conquer your own mind and for this you must go beyond it.

Pain and suffering are only the body and the mind screaming for attention.

To go beyond the body you must be healthy: To go beyond the mind, you must have your mind in perfect order. You cannot leave a mess behind and go beyond. The mess will bog you up. 'Pick up your rubbish' seems to be the universal law. And a just law too.

It is not the worship of a person that is crucial, but the steadiness and depth of your devotion to the task. Life itself is the Supreme Guru; be attentive to its lessons and obedient to its commands. Remember, wonder, ponder, live with it, love it, grow into it, grow with it, make it your own - the word of your Guru, outer or inner. Put in all and you will get all.

Desire what is worth desiring and desire it well. Just like you pick your way in a crowd, passing between people, so you find your way between events, without missing your general direction. It is easy, if you are earnest. Question every urge, hold no desire legitimate. Empty of possession, physical and mental, free of all self-concern, be open for discovery.