Ten Days Journey Into The Self

Author(s): Chitrabhanu
Publisher: Jain Meditation International Centre
Catalog link: https://jainqq.org/explore/034347/1

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Ten Days Journey Into The Self Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanu Compiled By Mrs. Elizabeth Cattell Jain Meditation International Center 120 East 86th Street, New York, N.Y. 10028 TEL. (212)-722-7474 First Edition 1974 Second Edition 1978 By the same author * Lotus Bloom * The Beacon * To the citizens of to-morrow * Inspiring Anecdotes Bondage and Freedom Fountain of Inspiration Jain Master Chitrabhanu speaks to One-World Sense Beyond the Senses * The Philosophy of Soul and Matter Published by Jain Meditation International Center 120 E. 86th Street, 2nd Floor New York, N.Y. 10028 Printed in India by Arun E. Mehta at Vakil & Sons Ltd. 18 Ballard Estate, Bombay 400 038

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The Immortal Song (1) May the sacred stream of amity flow forever in my heart May the universe prosper, such is my cherished desire; (2) May my heart sing with ecstasy at the sight of the virtuous, And may my life be an offering at their feet. (3) May my heart bleed at the sight of the wretched, And may tears of compassion flow from my eyes; (4) May I always be there to show the path to the pathless wanderers of life, Yet if they should not hearken to me, may I bide (5) May the spirit of goodwill enter into all our hearts, May we all sing together the immortal song of brotherhood The immortal song of sisterhood, The immortal song of brotherhood --Chitrabhanu

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.......... ......... Contents Ten Days Journey Into The Self... The Immortal Song............. Introduction Chapter One - The Experience of Meditation ...... ............ Thoughts Chapter Two - Meditation And The First Of Four Essential Virtues--Amity ........... Chapter Three - Meditation And The Second Essential Virtue --Appreciation .......... Chapter Four - Meditation And The Third Essential Virtue Compassion.................. 16 Chapter Five - Meditation And The Fourth Essential Virtue........... Equanimity..... ............... Chapter Six - The Quality Of Concord ..................... Thoughts .... Chapter Seven - Meditation On Overcoming Our Inner Enemies..... Thoughts .... ................... Chapter Eight - Meditation On Joy ............... ............ Thoughts .... Chapter Nine. - Meditation On Energy ........... Thoughts .......... Chapter Ten - Meditation On Creative Action ............ ............... Thoughts .... ............... Mahavir Jayanti ........ ............... . ....... ........

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Introduction At this point in history when we can fly around the world in the time it used to take to go from village to village, when there is instantaneous worldwide and even interplanetary visible and audible communication, and when through the eyes of the astronauts we have witnessed the splendor of the "earthrise", we are truly living in a global community. In India, Europe, Africa, and the United States, Gurudev Chitrabhanu has been teaching residents of our global community the principles of living, especially reverence for life. A recent article in the New York Times about Gurudev Chitrabhanu compared his role in Jainism as that of Pope John's in Catholicism, calling him an "iconoclast" who has broken those conventional images which stand for divisiveness and confinement. "Social conventions were created in the perspectives of a certain time and some are no longer applicable," Gurudev was quoted as saying The law of life is change Man must change with the times or perish. Unfortunately people do not have the courage to confront outdated theologies, customs, and institutions. Out of a false sense of security, they reject change. If a new religion were to suddenly burst forth near the end of the twentieth century, it might well resemble Jainism, the oldest of the world's great religions. Certainly it would have to be built on four of the main teachings of Jainism, as they are presented by Gurudev. In the nuclear age, when mankind has the power to destroy life on earth, it is imperative we live the Jain principle of Ahimsa, non-violence toward all living beings. Also, science has validated the Jain concept of Relativity, which Gurudev explains as meaning that all truths are aspects of the whole, with new aspects always being discovered. Relativity implies also that we should listen openmindedly to one another. Third, Jina means "conqueror: the Jina is one who has conquered his are inner enemies, which is what psychiatry is all about. As Toynbee has pointed out, in Greece and India twenty-five hundred years ago, there were philosophies that contained clear foresight of modern psychology and psychiatry. This self-knowledge is popularly recognized as essential today, since as the Pogo cartoon says, "We have seen the enemy and it is us." And also, now when we are suddenly confronted with air and water pollution, and an energy crisis as one symptom of our waste of resources through over consumption, and all the computerized dangers calling for limits to growth, the time has come for Commitment to the Jain principle of Aparigraha, or non-acquisition, and restricted consumption. While we probably cannot expect the bursting forth of a new religion, what is already happening is that the old thought barriers separating the great religions are breaking down, and a global perspective is emerging. Father Thomas Berry, who is founder of the Riverdale Center for Religious Research, points out that while we all may achieve our own growth from being rooted in our own traditions, we are also entitled to the global heritage of all religions. And global religion does not mean a mishmash, but a rich mosaic in which each religion can gain by its being complementary to the others. Gurudev's emphasis on the Divinity in man is a salutary aspect of its rich heritage, especially now when our morale is at low ebb. just when we need all the courage and confidence we can muster in order to get rid of war and build world unity, and also to restructure our society so that two-thirds of us will not be living in subhuman conditions, some popular schools of psychology psychiatry are presenting a negative image of man,

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as the aggressive animal, or as an object to be controlled. Also modern politics and advertising have been reducing truth to credibility, and personal gain too often takes priority over ethical concern for others. Therefore Gurudev's emphasis on the divine within us, to be nourished by meditation, is most timely. (Quakers also believe in 'that of God in every man," the "inner light." the more rays of religious insight that converge, the better!) Gurudev Chitrabhanu started life in a small village in India, and the glow in his own heart more than any thing else guided him to that journey which all seekers take, in search of meaning of life. This journey entails a study of the wisdom that others in the past have found and recorded in their words and their examples: and also it entails contact with living persons who live in ways transcending the mundane. Yet the most important thing for the seeker is what he does with what he finds. Gurudev has done so much with what he has found that he conveys truth dynamically, as much by examples as by words. Guru Chitrabhanu demonstrates the transforming power of Beingness and presence so fully that he illustrates the promise of, and the way toward, a new humanity. As is often pointed out, the West has concentrated largely on the exterior world, the physical world, in which it has gained great power through science, while the East has tended to concentrate on the interior world. Gurudev Chitrabhanu blends awareness of the exterior with the interior so that he is a whole human beings, leading a whole and balanced life. And to be whole is to be holy! Rather than regarding the phenomenal world as ephemeral, a cycle of unending and painful change, Gurudev like Mahatma Gandhi, regards it as man's responsibility and challenge. for him it is a source of joy! His being whole has a tremendous magnetic and compelling power, inspiring all those who come into contact with him to move toward their own wholeness. While alienation is the term often used to describe the condition of man, past and present, Gurudev radiates atonement. He is attuned to the world of nature: sun and trees and seas and seasons, and all plants and living beings. He is attuned to all that mankind, through its positive potential, has added to the earth by way of civilization: religion, art, music, philosophy, technology. He is attuned to his wife and his sons. He is attuned to all people, because he relates to their positive potential. The crisis of modern life takes a practical and pragmatic focus: to meet it we need the hope, vision, reverence for life, the sense of joy and awareness of being a vital part of the cosmic forces, that non- divisive, non-sectarian religion offers. In order to feel at home in these tremendous times we need the state of consciousness in which we experience harmony with ourselves and the universe. We need to live a life harmonizing action and contemplation. Gurudev Chitrabhanu comes to us as an exemplar and an enabler of that harmony. In the words with which St. John of the Cross so simply expressed his elation, "Oh happy chance....oh happy chance." A phrase that has caught hold ever since the moon landing has been that sometime we will "put the first man on earth." Many feel that this "first man on earth ", who will herald a new age will be much like Gurudev Chitrabhanu. ELIZABETH CATTELL

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This book has been compiled from the writings and speeches of Gurudev Shree Chitrabhanu by Elizabeth Cattell, a Quaker member of ministry and Oversight of the New York meeting, member of the Executive Board of the Peace and Social Action Program. She writes frequently for various journals. A psychotherapist, Mrs. Cattell has studied the problems and illnesses of contemporary life and selected the thoughts of Gurudev which have a vital bearing on our situation.

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Chapter One - The Experience Of Meditation Friends. Without the seed of divinity within us, no human being would exist. Because of the divinity within us, we move, think, love, give and receive. Do not be misled by what you see in the world around you, the passing show with its violence, commercialism, greed for possessions, lust for power. We are incarnations of the Life Energy of the Cosmos, evolving as we, here and now, transform ourselves. For this transformation which is Self-realization, we need meditation. In meditation, we enter, we experience, we prepare to express our divinity. This seed of divinity within each of us is the Creative Force, but each of us must contact it. Each of us must commit himself to living as a source of love and of light. There are many forms of meditation. Often the start of meditation is concentration on a point of light, or a word, or a mantra, or a phrase, or all idea, or an image. However, concentration is not meditation. Concentration can take us to the threshold, but we must go beyond. Meditation takes us beyond mind, beyond words beyond ego. In meditation, the confirming shell of the ego is split. When the shell of the ego is cast off the core which is within, which is your true Self your spirit, your soul shines forth with dazzling brilliance. When will the ego shatter? When you enter deep within yourself; when you reach the core of your being. The kernel of the coconut, its sweet milk, can be had only when you break its outer shell ego is the shell; within it is the nucleus, the essence of your real Self. Self love belongs to the ego love of all living beings, to the nucleus. The ego aims to get what is coming to me"; the nucleus aims to give all that it can to the world. The ego is a facade-become-prison. When we shed it, the essence, or nucleus emerges in freedom, offering itself and contributing to the bounty of the universe. We glide into meditation. We cannot force thoughts from our minds, or force bliss to come. It is as though we are seated on the balcony of our apartment, or on the porch of our house, and see people passing in the street. We let the many strangers pass. If a friend appears, we invite him to join us. Now we are not even aware of strangers in the street, as we concentrate on communicating with our friend. Then, finally, we become silent. Communing with our friend in the silence, we find we are communing with the Infinite. First, let us concentrate on the concept of the seed, and then glide into meditation.... The glory of the earth includes almost limitless varieties of plants and trees, all of which start from tiny seeds. We share this richness of diversity, this divinity in many forms, each individually unique. The seed is nourished by the dark earth which is broken up by earthworms, watered by rain, warmed by the sun, cooled by the gentle touch of the night. The seed splits its shell, and a form of life emerges which begins to expand and actualize its potential. Now go to the law behind the maturation of the seed. There is a benign harmony in the cycle of its flowering and bearing fruit and its decay---Only to grow again. The interrelatedness of seed and sun and earthworms, of birds that eat the superfluous seeds, of people who eat the fruit, and of all that lives on the earth is the interrelatedness of one with all. Without this inter-relatedness, this harmony of the whole, we would not be here. We not only eat the fruit of the tree, we rest in its shade and we also enjoy its beauty, which completes the tree. Two thousand and five hundred years ago, Mahavir said, Since you receive so much more than any other form of life, it is inevitable that you should want to give more." We not only have senses that open the whole expanse of the universe to us, but we also

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have articulate language, the capacity for abstract thinking, and the freedom to choose and to move ourselves in the forward direction. But we have to recognize the forward direction, we have to confront ourselves, come to know ourselves. So now, having concentrated on the object, the seed, we must turn to the subject, which is ourselves. The eternal question that stands before man in all ages and in all parts of the world is this: "Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of life? "For centuries, all the seers, saints, sages, prophets and philosophers have been pondering this one question. Circumstances have changed, but the question has not changed. Civilization has been going through many stages and great turmoil, but this question remains standing before each and all of us, like a mountain. For this question, there is no purely verbal answer. If there were, we would have a beautiful statement and we would not have to keep searching. The secret is that we have to go deeper than mind or words. Those who have seen, become silent. For the answer, there is no vocabulary, no verbal expression. We find it in the silence of meditation. Friends, the universe wants something from you. You have your place in this cosmos. You are significant. Each day you are adding something to the world---your thoughts, your emotions, your words, your actions. The same light that was in the enlightened masters and great teachers is in you. The same spark, the same flame is there, only they used it to their full capacity. I believe that you will not find out who you are without meditation. I do not mean any one specific form of meditation, for according to the Jain principle of relativity, different meditations open different doors to reality as realized during certain epochs and in certain places. However, meditation is that which leads us from the small self, the ego, to the large Self. Ego is perverted power. We need the love and the light of the larger Self that reaches out to all mankind, to all living beings. With this light and love we grow the fruit we were meant to bear and are capable of bearing, as our gift to the world. Constantly we need to keep in mind the immortal question of who we are, for at various stages of life our purpose may be different. At one stage it may be to grow alone; at another it may be to raise a family. All levels and varieties of human effort and contribution are necessary to consume karmas---bearing children, raising them, letting them go; studying art, composing music; or perhaps deciding, as Albert Schweitzer did, that music is not enough, and going on to establish a hospital in Africa. We may leave the world for an hour a day, or for ten years, and then return. Having learned who we are, we are ready to give all we feel by making our contribution to building the earth. Only you can decide on your focus. You may change your mission, or retire from one and go into another one more satisfying. Do not think about age. Some of you will find your goal earlier, and some later. Only not to find it at all is the tragedy! It is the intensity of experience that matters, not the length of time. Moments can often be more enlightening than years. But each of you is here to nurture the seed of divinity within yourself. Now let us glide into meditation, and enter the divinity within.... We are one whole, one with the seas and the stars, one with life.... Let us meditate and find the bliss of being part of the whole, the full inspiration of our receiving and giving.... Let us enter meditation by first concentrating on the thought, "The whole tree is in the heart of the tiny seed."

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Thoughts 1. When the shell of the ego is cast off by entering deep within the self, the spirit will shine forth with dazzling brilliance. 2. "Since we receive more than any other form of life on the planet, we should strive to give more." Mahavir 3. As unique individuals each of us must commit himself to living as a source of light and love.

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Chapter Two - Meditation And The First Of Four Essential Virtues--Amity Meditation is purification. We have to distill our essence, which is pure. In meditation, we get rid of the mud, the pollution, and distill pure energy of Light, of Love. To meditate is to purify, to distill the divinity with-in, the active divinity. Natural water is not muddy, polluted, contaminated--such impurities come from the soil of the banks, and from the factories on the shores. The unclean water does not clearly reflect the sun, the blue sky, the green trees, the flowers on the bank; and it may poison the fish, the frogs, and also the people who drink it. In the same way, man's essence can become perverted through his exposure to the world. And then he unwittingly contributes to the pollution and perversion. When we start the practice of meditation, in the first stage each is called an aspirant, in Sanskrit, a Sadhak, which means, "not complacent". As aspirants, we know we are not what we could be. For most of us, the purification that takes place during meditation, even the experience of bliss and in- inspiration, may not be too long in coming. But the purification of a life span, which means building and rebuilding our lives according to what we discover in our meditation will take arduous effort. We are here on a long journey, to share the road to immortality with all living beings. There are many names for the goal--immortality, evolution, salvation or moksha which means liberation. In other terms the goal may be "to get the most out of life". But we will not get the most out of life without discovering our divinity through meditation. And the discovery of our divinity must lead to our finding our mission in life, which means giving up the mundane, going beyond merely making profits and acquiring possessions, beyond identification with our role in buying and selling, beyond our cultivating ease and indolence. We must experience our attunement with all men, even with all living beings, with nature, with the Cosmos. And this attunement implies not only joy but responsibility, the responsibility which compassion engenders. What I have been fortunate in experiencing and practicing, bit by bit, I shall explain to you, so you can move in a similar direction. Many years ago, on a long retreat on Mount Abu, in solitude and silence and meditation, I sought the answer to the question, "What are the minimum virtues necessary for anyone if he is to rightly think of himself as an enlightened person?" The answer that came to me was the four virtues taught by Mahavir, which I put into words and music in what I have called "The Immortal Song". It begins, "May the sacred stream of amity flow forever in my heart, May the universe prosper; such is my cherished desire." First, let us concentrate on amity---and then, later, you will glide into meditation. In concentration, there is harmony between observer and object. The subject observes the object, but there is complete unity between subject and object. In meditation you are in a state in which you have entered the center of energy. You are one with Reality. You have gone beyond subject and object, beyond mind. Amity is the first criterion of love. God is merely an image, the symbol of love. Personified love is called God. Love energy is God in action: to realize God, you have to give love, to be love. Without love, God is not present. The presence of love is the presence of God. Without amity, goodwill, there is no love. With any trace of fear, hate, resentment, possessiveness, indifference, self-centeredness, love is polluted.

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Let us still concentrate on amity. Each of us must realize that if the sacred stream of amity is flowing in our hearts, we will wish the whole universe to prosper. We must each know that our love is not to be confined to ourselves, our families, our nations, but must include the whole planet. And if we genuinely wish the planet to prosper, we must do more than wish. If we want the planet to prosper, we must actively contribute to this planetary prosperity, rather than to the planetary drought and erosion which result from egocentric competition, or from withdrawal or indifference. In English, the word "T" is written in capitals, but it is the word "WE" that should be written in capitals. And the WE should be as big as the universe. It should be a WE based on goodwill. We use the word "love" so often, but we must come to know in practice the power of love. People are starving in the world---do you love them? Year after year, children are being bombed in wars---do you love them? Do you genuinely search for the roots, in this technologically advanced society, of starvation and violence ? Do you love your neighbors, your black neighbor, your yellow neighbor, your red neighbor, your neighbor who has had less opportunity for education, and who has been in other ways less fortunate than you ? Christ defined the requirements of amity: "Whatsoever ye would that other men should do to you, do ye even so to them." Has this message led you to practice amity? We visualize love incarnated as Mahavir or Buddha. They were in the past. Others will be in the future. WE are in the present. Let each of us experience, "What the prophets knew within themselves, I find within myself. I incarnate the power of love." This is spiritual democracy. It is our birthright. We cannot be happy, cannot have the "kingdom of heaven" within or without, unless we live in this understanding of our perfection. We need to contribute amity in our homes, and in our relationships with our associates. Our children need amity. Husbands and wives need amity between them. Neighbors need amity. People on the highway and on the subway and on the street need our amity. But with daily frustrations, amity is difficult to maintain. In dealing with those who oppose us our amity needs to be kindled so that conflicts can be resolved without violence. Differences in ideologies call for the humblest amity, so that they can be resolved by dialogue. Amity means peace and goodwill---for all the citizens of this planet. Not all trees are vast banyans. Yet a grove, or forest of smaller trees, can give more shade than the greatest banyan. And small trees also are always essential. At the edge of the desert, a poor family whom I knew had to bring water from a distance. Even so they kept a supply to give half a glass to any thirsty traveler. This small gift made them happy, and those who received it happy. Amity, reverence for life, is everyone's privilege, and the more we cultivate it, the greater the spiritual prosperity we will enjoy and share. This spiritual prosperity of caring and sharing will enrich us more than any material prosperity. As a single banyan cannot give us the oxygen we need in order to live, no single savior or messiah can really build world brotherhood, world unity. That will take all of us together. Amity can fill every cell of your body. Thus your body becomes a temple of amity. You are transformed! If any obstacle comes in the way, if something unworthy enters the temple, it is the intrusion of ego.... Let it go. If you do not pay attention to it, it will have no energy. Unless you let it occupy your thoughts, and take over your energy, it will have no role. Let it pass. Let the flow of love and beauty wash it away. Know that the stream of amity will forever wash away evil.

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Now you can enter meditation by concentrating on the idea, "Let the creative force of Love act through me." THOUGHTS 1. we shall not get the most out of life until we discover our own divinity and attunement with all living things. In meditation, we enter the center of energy. If ego or unworthy thoughts intrude in this temple, pay no attention, give them no energy and they will pass by like shadows. 2. May the stream of amity or goodwill flow from us to the whole planet until we become personified love.

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Chapter Three - Meditation And The Second Essential Virtue -- Appreciation Friends. To describe how we enter meditation, I often use the simile of the bee seeking honey. He buzzes and buzzes, just as when we are beginning meditation, our thoughts go buzzing around in our heads. Then the bee selects a flower, as in concentration we select a word, or thought, or object. However, when the bee penetrates the flower and finds honey, the buzzing stops. Now, the bee is all absorbed in what he has found, in his union with what he has discovered. In the same way, when we reach meditation, beyond all thoughts we find joy, ecstasy, and bliss at our center. Today we will enter meditation by first concentrating on the virtue I call appreciation. First we concentrated on amity. Now we will concentrate on the second virtue, appreciation. In the words of The Immortal Song, "May my heart sing with ecstasy at the sight of the virtuous, And may my life be an offering at their feet." Would life appear meaningful without those in the past and the present who incarnate human potential beyond aggression, self-interest, and ignorance, the enablers and exemplars who show us something of what life can and shall be? The great prophets cast their light of hope and human glory far in time and space, but few of us have learned how to exalt life as they did! Too often we profane it instead. Yet how impoverished this planet would be if we did not have before us the example of those who have followed different imperatives than the poor souls who struggle merely to survive, or those who live merely to get ahead in the rat race, to acquire a few more possessions, a little more external good fortune and status than their neighbors---not caring whom they harm in the battle! Truly, how distorted our vision would be if only the conquerors, or the rulers, or the richest were held up before us ! Alexander the Great once went to see Diogenes, the celebrated philosopher. "What Can I do for you?" asked the conqueror of the world wishing to patronize him. The philosopher thought for a moment, and then replied, "Please step aside, so you won't come between me and the sun." A person of power blocks the rays of the sun, and casts a shadow. A wise man receives and gives light. We need the great of the past who gave light, and also the great who have cast light in today's world, such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King. To create that which can be means not to blindly conform to what is. We need to show appreciation for those who put practice before preaching, who have the caring and commitment, and who have the courage to confront current practices which conflict with the dictates of light and love. However, appreciation begins with those nearest us; as you want appreciation, give it. Children, in their efforts to grow, need appreciation. Husbands and wives, in their dedications to each other, need appreciation. Parents, whatever their shortcomings, need appreciation. The mechanic who does an especially good job on our car deserves appreciation. We must learn to appreciate, and to show appreciation for the virtues and talents and efforts of all others. And our appreciations must be the kind that flows from the heart, not the flattery which falls easily from the lips. And when we meet a greatly accomplished person, a highly evolved soul, we must offer our time and services for the good causes he wishes to further. Some unfortunate people, in the grip of the small ego, tend to deny another's progress and accomplishments. Especially if the talented ones are only a few steps ahead, the envious are prone to berate and disparage them. If someone sings better than one of

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them, he thinks, "Well, he sings, but really he has no rich tone in his voice." If someone dances better, he thinks, "Well, this man dances, but really has no grace. He jumps here and there like a monkey." If someone gives a donation, the jealous person thinks, "This person is generous only because he wishes to show off." If someone is being humble, the jealous one says, "He is hiding his ego behind a mask of humility." If someone is outspoken and forthright, the envious one calls him blunt and impolite. This is how envy and pettiness get in the way, although perhaps the envious are people who did not receive enough appreciation themselves when they were small. Ask yourself whether you have any of this envy. When we reach the larger Self, envy and competitiveness are gone. Then we wish the whole world could be filled with the enlightened ones! These sometimes are called the super-human, but I regard them as humanity realized. In any age there is no death of people who run after wealth, power, or physical beauty. There are few who care for truth, love, meditation, commitment to changing their own lives, those who know it is not our worldly success or physical existence but, first of all, what we are inwardly that counts. Yet it is only these who throw a ray of light on the dark path to guide the misguided, the ignorant, the weak, and the seekers. These few are the Torchbearers. Appreciate them.... those who have gone beyond pride and pettiness, those who have simplified their lives, those who are working to turn the world into a living paradise. Our hearts should feel joyful at the sight of those who are some steps ahead of us. Also, we must draw from them inspiration for our own progress. Appreciation implies that as the other has found his purpose in life, his mission, we must find ours. If we can avoid the snare of inferiority---of putting ourselves down--as well as the snare of envy, and approach the outstanding ones with softness of heart, then we can bring forth our own virtues and talents, and shine with perfection. Only we must be astute in selecting the savior in ourselves or in society who, we hope, will help us realize our Essence. Pseudosaints and pseudo-yogis flourish in this era! A piece of sugar and a piece of alum look exactly alike; both are white, both can have the same shape. But a fly will never be deceived by the similarity. Likewise, a man whose Inner Light is active will reject the false savior. Ultimately we must all depend on the master within; but before we can generate enough enlightenment, we need guidance of outside masters. Friends. Those whom you feel are such outstanding and accomplished people are really no different from you. Night and day, unnoticed, you are growing. From a single cell, you have developed a physical form comprised of countless individual cells. In the same way, an unnoticed process is going on in your inner life--it is working on you, building within you. Give yourself to it. Let appreciation nourish it and in the quiet of your meditation you will see your mission clearly. Appreciation--we have been concentrating on its meaning, what effect it can have in our own lives. And now we will go beyond intellect, into meditation. In the silence, your awareness climbs to the moon, to the sun, and beyond.... Now that you are in meditation, you are open to the whole universe; there is harmony between you and the Cosmos.... And you will return to your time and place with fresh inspiration....

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THOUGHTS 1. In order to grow to our full inner stature, we must appreciate the great human beacons of the past, present and future. 2. Let us show appreciation to those nearest us--our children, our parents, a husband or wife, our friends and associates. Let us also show appreciation to those whose labor gives us our habitat--not only the artists and architects and poets and musicians--but those who drive the buses, those who grow the grain and fruit we eat, those who clear the streets. 3. Let us show appreciation to those whose practice even more than their preaching helps us find our own mission.

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Chapter Four - Meditation And The Third Essential Virtue Compassion Friends. Let us concentrate on the third virtue which the spiritual aspirant requires, which is compassion Here the Immortal Song says, "May my heart bleed at the sight of the wretched, the cruel, and the poor. And may tears of compassion flow from my eyes." Often we are so involved in ourselves and in our own affairs, that we do not think of the suffering of other people, or of plants and animals. Yet not only a few saints and enlightened persons, but all of us must feel the pain of other living beings and try to help them. Tears are only the starting point of compassion ! I say we must first care, and then care for and then try to change the customs and conditions that give rise to such widespread suffering ! Not only for those who are hurt, but also for the cruel who are causing the pain must we have compassion! The word sin means "missing the mark." Nothing so misses the mark as violence, which is as true for the violent word as for the violent deed. We must care for those whose "missing the mark" is obvious to us and befriend them rather than putting them down. Otherwise we shall be missing the mark ourselves. Once President Lincoln was returning to the White House, riding in his carriage and dressed in his best, when he noticed a small pig by the side of the road, mired in mud. It was squealing and squirming wildly, but all its efforts merely drove it deeper into the mud. Lincoln ordered the coach to stop, got out, and waded into the mire. He tugged and pulled until he managed to free the pig. Upon his arrival home, his family and friends noticed the mud all over his clothes, and while he went to change them, the coachman explained what had happened. When the President reappeared, everyone flocked around him, praising him for his kindness. He told them, "Please save your praises. When I saw this little creature in such distress, it was as if there were a thorn driven into my own heart. And so I plucked it out. Therefore it was really my own pain that leased more than that of the pig." This is compassion ! If we have compassion, in today's world it will lead us to choose a simple life style. We must think constantly of those who not only enjoy none of the fruits of technology, but lack even food for them-selves and their children. Our lack of concern contributes to their material deprivation. Here in this city a friend of mine saw a very old man begging. My friend had the impulse to give the old man something, but found that he had left his money at home. He went up to him and told him, "I am really sorry I cannot give you any money, because I find have left my wallet at home. But I wish to offer you my hand and tell you how much it pains me to see you going hungry here on the street." The old man smiled at him and replied, "Friend, now I do not need food, for I have been fed by your love. You are the first person who has ever spoken to me this way." My friend was glad he had made his small gesture of concern. This illustrates how compassion benefits both giver and receiver. Also, compassion must of course eventually lead us to look for the roots of poverty and racism and violence in power and greed and fear. Why in today's world are two-thirds of the population still starving? Why does such a huge percentage of our time, money, and resources have to go for destruction. Compassion cannot stop with the symptoms, but must seek for the disease and its cure. Each of us must ask himself, "Am I looking

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for the roots of poverty and violence in myself and in the world? Am I dedicating myself to the changes in myself and in the world that will bring about the maximum well-being of all?" Often, out of compassion, a time-honored custom has to be violated. In India, monks are not supposed to touch women. Once when I was a young monk, I lifted two women out of a window to rescue them from a burning house in which they could have been burned to death. Many people criticized the breaking of tradition, but in their criticism they failed to see the meaning of compassion. In the nuclear age, custom must give way to compassion for self as well as others for man to survive on this planet. Our compassion must extend also to the aged. You know in India we consider it a privilege to take care of our old people. And they require as much love and concern as do the children. You are feeble when you come into this world, and often you are feeble when you go out of it. Parents are the individuals which life has put closest to us. We mustlove and care for them when they need our care. In this country I have found there is much alienation toward the aged, and old people are suffering. Many of them are ignored and even hated by their own children. But whether it is for parents or strangers, we must have the heart of the mother, and seek to help. You can have compassion for yourself also, but instead of blaming your misery on others, see what you may be doing- or not doing--to cause it; and what you can do to end it. In regard to your own suffering, have compassion for yourself, but re-member that calamities and disappointments which are showered upon you can be truly a means to test your purity and strength. And they may be the result of your former unkind actions. All the world's great religions were born out of a confrontation with suffering. Buddha, in spite of the luxury of the palace in which he lived, and his father's efforts to protect him from all negativity, one day was moved by the sight of an old, sick, dying man. He left his family and after a long period of solitude, silence, and meditation he formulated the principles of Buddhism. Christ, focusing more on the suffering caused by "man's inhumanity to man, offered the world his teachings of: "Love your neighbor": and, "Love your enemy." Mahavir saw, beyond the walls of the palace where he was brought up, the suffering prevalent in the world, and taught Ahimsa, relativity in thinking, limited possessions, and the law of karma. However, each of you must respond to suffering in your own way; make your own contribution to lessening the pain of the world. Only you can decide how you can daily live your reverence for life. Now we are ready to meditate.... We are ready to open ourselves to the Light, to become one with the Light.... Let us enter meditation by concentrating on the sentence, "My heart is vibrating with reverence for life...." THOUGHTS 1. We must understand the dimension of the word compassion and how it summons us to contemplation, to compassion, to action.

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2. Indifference to all but that which directly concerns our self interest is a form of violence. Compassion cannot flood the soul until we have overcome indifference to the suffering of those around us and even of those unknown to us. 3. Let us meditate to discover how, in our own way, we can lessen the pain of the world.

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Chapter Five - Meditation And The Fourth Essential Virtue Equanimity Friends. Now, we come to the fourth virtue, which is equanimity. This is perhaps the most difficult to acquire and maintain. The fourth stanza of The Immortal Song says, "May I always be there to show the path to the pathless wanderers of life. Yet if they should not harken to me, may I bide patiently." How, in "the roaring tide of the world's ignorance", can we abide in peace How can we shut out the clamor of everyday, the "sound and fury signifying nothing", in order that we can give our attention to acquiring some wisdom And if through our sincere efforts we acquire some vision and try to impart it to others and they refuse to heed us, how can we maintain our equilibrium? The world's chaos engulfs us, and the time is short; so we have to offer as much of our services, our ahead as rapidly as we would wish! I once asked a friend of mine, "Why can't people give up ignorance" He told me, "How can we part from our old friend, ignorance? It is our oldest and dearest companion in the world!" Even those we love sometimes seem to live under the pall of darkness, and will not see for themselves the facts of life which we try to point out to them. As soon as someone expresses views sharply opposed to our own, do we not become hostile and antagonistic. If we do, neither of us will learn anything; and our antagonism will poison both ourselves and the world around us. If we want others to respect or even listen to our opinions, we must first listen to them. We should offer all we can of our services and guidance to others, but we must not demand that they accept them. If you try to give someone a helping hand or some good piece of advice, and your offer of help is spurned, you may tend to feel rejected. You may feel helpless and react with anger; or even, out of hurt pride, become vindictive. It is a subtle moment in life! Especially when, even after your attempt to help has entailed some sacrifice of yourself, a friend refuses your advice. You may treat the ungrateful friend even worse than an enemy! Your approach to guidance can make all the difference as to whether it will be accepted or rejected. Once I saw a small boy, perhaps ten years old, smoking a cigarette. I went up to him and said, "Why are you smoking? Don't you know that you may ruin your health this way?" He snapped back at me, "Mind your own business !" I was tempted to leave him in anger, but remaining calm, I took out a clean, white handkerchief, and asked whether he would play a game. He agreed. So I asked him to exhale his cigarette smoke through the handkerchief. After doing this a few times, I showed him the brown nicotine stain on the cloth. "This is what is happening to your lungs," I told him. Perhaps because I was speaking with amity, he threw away his cigarette. How often parents with the best of intentions want to tell their children what to do, how to live their lives. They complain bitterly, "We have given him everything, and he would not listen to us!" Does your child not have the right to make his own life, perhaps one quite different from yours? Does he not have the right to determine his own life, including learning from his own mistakes?

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If you have children, at times they will go against you. However, at that moment, keep your balance. Learn the art of patience, of equanimity. As amity and equanimity grow, they will show on your face. Irritation begets irritation. Rejection begets rejection. Your irritation and rejection only lead them to build their opposition, rather than to question themselves. Once in a very lonely place in India, I met a well-known highway-man, head of a gang. Perhaps because no fear showed on my face, he asked for my blessings. I gave him my blessings, and then at my suggestion we sat down and carried on a lengthy conversation. Because I was sympathetic rather than condemnatory, he revealed that he would prefer a different life, but did not know how to make the transition. I offered help, which I was later able to give, and he is now a useful citizen. If I had shown scorn or contempt, or that I was upset by his way of life, this could not have happened. We have to maintain our equilibrium, not only society, but also with those in power whom our own vision and our human rights demand we oppose. Gandhi had unshakable equilibrium even with the British, against whom he was leading our struggle to win freedom and independence. Even though he was adamant in the fight against their domination, inwardly he was filled with amity for them. He told me, "One day those who still rule over us will understand our position and we will achieve our freedom. So we must fight, but with the weapon of love." And he set the world an example by succeeding. Also, have equanimity for yourself, your own progress, your own battle against your inner enemies. It is said, "Rome was not built in a day !" and it would seem that equanimity is as difficult to build as Rome! Learn from the errors you are bound to commit. Once when I was a youth, impatient with the progress of non-violent resistance, I became part of an underground movement. I was tortured by the police, my legs slashed. Thereby I learned that those who embrace violence have no right to expect anything but violence in return. That is the Karma of action. It is up to us to stop the vicious circle. Only on the basis of equanimity, can evil be turned good. Now let us meditate. Only as consciousness expands, can we find our place and our peace in the universe... THOUGHTS 1. "May I always show the path to the pathless ones, but if they should not harken, may bide patiently." 2. Show equanimity to ourselves also as, in the face of our own errors and our backwards steps, we climb toward the light. 3. Learn to recognize the subtle moments in life", when we have reached out to give and are rejected. Love and compassion can become sour as the ego starts to take command. It is then we must summon all reserves of equanimity.

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Chapter Six - The Quality Of Concord Friends. We have concentrated on the four virtues which came to me on Mount Abu: amity, appreciation, compassion, and equanimity. These are the four pillars which support the whole structure of my philosophy. They are the foundation on which a life can be built and rebuilt. NOW we come to the final lines of this song, "Let the spirit of goodwill enter into all our hearts. Let us all sing in chorus the joyous song of human concord." Today we will concentrate on concord. Concord implies our hearts are together in agreement and harmony. It is not a matter of similarity or identity between us; but, like separate notes in music, we can create harmony rather than disharmony. BY "song". I do not mean a vocal song, but a song of service and action. Before we build unity in the world, which is necessary today if we are to survive, there must be a feeling of brotherhood, of concord. Our discord destroys the fabric of life long before we reach the point of physical destruction. Men who can reach the moon, can't reach one another across differences of opinion and interest ! We have one world, a planet we can fly around in a matter of hours ! But our song is still the national anthem, limiting us to one or another country, rather than a song of concord uniting us to the universe and mankind. NO one torchbearer or bridge builder, saint or sage, prophet, or social reformer can by himself do much in building the world without co-operation from many others. We all have to join together to turn this earth into a paradise. Though we are individuals, we are parts of this cosmos, whether we act in harmony or discord. As the popular saying goes, "Some are part of the problem, and some are part of the solution." Millions died in plagues until others developed medicine. Millions have died in wars, but others will establish the world of peace and justice and unity. So as monads in one whole, even our disharmony can call us to bring about unity and harmony. All our endeavors call for collaboration, co-operation, corporate effort and concord. We cannot build a car single-handed. We cannot build a road single-handed. We cannot build science and technology single-handed. Philosophers in ancient Greece and also in India had intuitions concerning atomic theory, and the interrelation of matter and energy, but it was not until science developed as a corporate endeavor that such insights could give man the tremendous control he has over the physical world. AS Einstein said, science is born from transcendent experience. However, it is science as a corporate effort that has given us technology, which can be used either for destruction, or for construction. We must work together, like the five fingers of the hand. Every single finger, as well as the thumb, is an indispensable part of the hand. They work in unison; each by itself

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would be of little value. Every individual is likewise a member of society, and we are all interdependent. If each one acts only with selfish motives without contributing to the whole, there will be no unity, no strength, no progress, no happiness. Love and hope lead to concord. Fear leads to divisiveness and strife. Love and hope start in the home. We have to give our children basic trust. Concord between husband and wife shows the child a world united and not divided. In a world that is divided and hostile, the individual becomes divided; and without love of self and for others, distrust and fear prepare for defensiveness and vengeance. TO sing the song of concord gives us a sense of well-being that we can have no other way. As the poet William Blake said, "The bird a nest, the spider a web, man friendship." This is what we have when we meditate together. In Sanskrit, it is called "sat-sang", the company of people with permanent values. This helps greatly to develop the personality, and to bring it closer to the realization of the true and permanent self. We can often observe far more concord in a herd of deer or a flock of birds than in people on a city street, or even in the suburbs or a small town. Man seems to act in concord only if he is facing an enemy, or is in some emergency, such as a black-out. According to the Darwinian theory, man is an animal; and psychologists have presented the aggressive animal in man. However, man has capacities for both creativity and destructiveness far beyond that of animals! Animal species do not torture, burn alive, draw and quarter other animals. There is an Indian folk tale about a lion cub who came stealing out of its den and caught sight of a large army marching by. The sight of men carrying rifles and bayonets scared him so he slunk back and sought the warm shelter of his mother's side. Feeling him quake, she asked, "What is wrong, my pet ~ You are a lion cub. You will be king of the jungle." "But mother, look out," quavered the cub. Glancing out, the lioness saw the army marching past. "Oh, that !" she said disdainfully. "That's the species that has an army to slaughter its own kind." However, it is man's nature that he can confront his nature, and the nature of nature. Still, some people project their creative potential onto gods, and their potential for evil onto the devil and evil spirits! When we project evil onto Satan or evil spirits or an enemy, we cannot recognize and overcome it in our-selves. And while we are worshipping a god, we cannot become like him. We propitiate him, and beg him to defend and protect us, instead of making ourselves responsible for building peace and unity! We must be love, be responsibility, be the power of love and light. We shall have to actualize concord in recognizing our true nature if humanity is to be saved from self-destruction by the weapons that science and technology have produced. It is said that the basic law of all biological life is, "Grow or perish." And we will have to see our inner enemies, and sing in concord the song of light and love, in order to grow and build a unified world based on co-operation. The path which leads from barbarism and savagery to civilization is a path of non-violence, of amity, of appreciation, compassion, equanimity, concord.

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The song of concord is joyous. To live is good. TO live vividly is better. TO live vividly together is best. Concord with all life, harmony with the universe, is the orchestration for love between individuals. Love between individuals is the bond of an inner sense of collective happiness. Love is not being self-centered, but being other-centered. ... Love has the eyes of a mother. ... Love hails vastness. ... Love enhances peace. ... Love gives rise to self-respect. Concord comes from the word "cardia", meaning heart, so it means our hearts are together. Now we will meditate.... In meditation we are alone, yet in consonance with the cosmos. In meditation we experience the bliss of this harmony, this concord. Thoughts 1. Our song of concord is one of attullement to mankind the planet and the universe. 2. To recognize our true nature, we must realize that we encompass all qualities. From that promise learn to select and demonstrate only those qualities which will lead to harmony on the planet. 3. Our song of concord is a song of service and action of confidence and collaboration; our concord must include the opposition.

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Chapter Seven - Meditation On Overcoming Our Inner Enemies We can enter meditation by repeating a mantra. However, to do its work, a mantra calls for our pondering the full scope of its meaning, and its application in our daily living. It requires the entire struggle of life behind it. Friends. We will enter meditation by pondering the universal mantra "Namo Arihantanam". "Namo Arihantanam" means "I bow before those who have conquered their inner enemies, in order to conquer my own inner enemies." There is no name of a particular god or saint or apostle, or any delineation of race or nation or culture in this evocation; it is species wide. We all have inner enemies. The enlightened are those who have recognized and overcome their inner enemies, and thereby have been enabled to reach the state of perfection. I define perfection as the state of anyone who is bringing his potentiality for creativity into full bloom. To build the good life, and to help turn this earth from a battlefield into a garden, all of us have to overcome our inner enemies. But inner enemies are not easy to recognize! Hitler, blind to his inner enemies, idealized his sadistic power drive as the instrument for achieving a victory that would last a thousand years. Did those who burned witches recognize their own inner enemies? They projected their fear on the women they burned. Often our inner enemies seem to operate in pairs. We are afraid to recognize some weakness or malice in ourselves and project it outward onto others. If we are afraid to assert ourselves, to become ourselves, we listen to inner culprits telling us to settle for the security of the familiar instead of taking the risk of advancing into the dimension of the unknown. Or we may fill our emptiness with "something that is better than nothing," that is, by indulging in alcohol, drugs, rituals, and day dreams. The leader of our band of inner enemies is always assuring us there is no means for us to live in any other way! How expertly we disguise, idealize, and rationalize our inner enemies! Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Mahavir told us to know and overcome our inner enemies. he also said, "Ekam jane savvam jane,"- "He who knows one knows all." After that in ancient Greece, Socrates advised "know thyself." He and other sages have insisted, "Know the truth, and truth shall set you free." they recognized that the root of evil is ignorance. Today, psychology and psychiatry are developing a science of self-knowledge of which the seers have had foresight for over twenty-five centuries. Several years ago a young man came to America from Germany. His father was a rabbi who was obsessed with the idea of virtue and tried to pound his own ideas into his son. He often severely punished his boy for failing to live up to his rigid standards. Ultimately

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this boy fled from his home and family, fell in with people who used drugs, and became an addict. Next he became a thief in order to find money to pay for his drugs. Finally, he was arrested and spent six months in a prison. When he came out, he met some people who were doing yoga, and under their influence he became an ardent student for the next six or seven months. But then he relapsed. One evening he came to one of my talks, and later he came to see me. He told me about his background and then he said, "I know yoga, I do the postures, pranayama breathing, and I meditate. But my old habits are defeating me. Yet when I heard you speak, something that wishes to overcome welled up in me. This my friend is a common picture. We fall into a condition in which there is a civil war raging inside of us. There is conflict- even in the truly gentleman's heart; even in a good person's life, there is something which will try to drag him down. Once he gives up, he becomes weaker and weaker. It is like someone missing the top step on a staircase and tumbling backward; he picks up momentum as he tumbles down. But good company and the words of a teacher can inspire us to begin again. I asked this young man, "why do you get this temptation?" He told me, "My father was so cruel and harsh with me that ultimately he disgusted me. his intentions were all right. He wanted me to be good and pious, but his methods were brutal. Now I have lost faith in my father, in the clergy, and in the teaching of my religion. So I turn to drugs to dull the pain." Perhaps he was trying also to defeat his father for having been so cruel to him. I said to him, "But why lose faith in yourself ? Lose everything else, but not this. As long as you can hold on to faith in yourself, you are saved. From this, everything can be regained." In response to a certain environment, a child devises a response that becomes habitual. And then the habit forms a character. And the character tends to form a destiny. Even though habitual attitudes feel comfortable, we become their prisoners. They even persist after the environment in response to which they were formed has been left behind. There parents who would improve their children must first improve themselves. They should reform themselves for the well-being of their children, if for nothing else. When the wish to overcome inner enemies wells up, some people go to psychiatrists or other professionally trained people. However the number of psychiatrists and professionally trained people in the world is limited. Also, unfortunately many professional people become hypnotised the ego-centrism of the society today. If we have faith in ourselves, I think many of us can recognize and overcome our inner enemies; but we have to focus on the search for them. To know yourself, scrutinize deeply and carefully. Listen to where the words come from when you speak. Observe the consequences of your thoughts, attitudes, actions. Do not suppress thoughts and feelings, but observe , discover and examine. What is the cause of hiding? What is behind the anger? What is behind the self-defeat? What is behind the emptiness?.......Beauty is within, but something is in the way.

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For deep introspection, one needs a peaceful atmosphere. It is only in moments of utter tranquility that one can see what lies buried deep within. In our daily lives there are so many distractions, so many pressures and worries! Even the man who seems so prosperous in the worldly sense is not free from these pressures. On the contrary, the more he concentrates on the means to material prosperity, the greater the tension and worries. Such a man does not have a moment of peace even for a meal; Thus how can he have the time and calm state of mind so necessary for introspection? This is why for all of us meditation is necessary. And as we concentrate on Namo Arihantanam, overcoming our inner enemies, at first we may find it painful. There is no instant enlightenment, no instant lasting freedom from inner enemies. We are accustomed to instant everything - instant coffee, instant light, instant water, instant photograph; and we want instant enlightenment. if you plant a seed you will not instantly get a tree! Find what is the shadow blocking the light, if you are not ready to open the door, the sun won't open it for you. As we meditate, we will open the door, .... our essence will separate from our inner enemies. Our inner enemies will go, and our essence will shine, radiate... We will be free.... Let us concentrate on the process of becoming free by recognizing and overcoming our inner enemies. Thoughts 1. Never lose faith in your deep self, the center of your being. 2. Learn to recognize and overcome all inner enemies. Be patient, realizing that seed and character grow slowly and that suffering and error can be used as manure to fertilize your inner garden. 3. Perfection is the inner potential brought by unremitting effort and struggle, to its fullest stature.

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Chapter Eight - Meditation On Joy Sons and daughters of Love and Light. Today we shall concentrate on joy. We are here to celebrate joy. I mean the true joy in being alive, the joy of the Essence, the Self, in which we are united within ourselves, and with the universe. When we are whole, life is holy. There is no ego in such joy. There is no fear in joy. There is no pride or greed in joy. Joy of the Essence is in being awake, aware. To live meaningfully, to be creative, to give all we have to give, is the way to joy. Joy is within, but we have to discover it, experience it through meditation. We come to this world so that we can find our ultimate center, which is happiness, joy. But we keep hoping that joy will come to us from the outside, that someone or some circumstance will give us happiness. But really, friends, there is no need to wait. The happiness you wish for is already there, Waiting for you, but you must open the door so it can come out. We do not come here to acquire anything, but to experience. Polish the rough diamond of your soul and it will display the lucidity, the luminosity that are its true nature. Mahavir said, "I came to show you the treasure of wisdom and joy hidden in you as the tree is hidden in the seed." However, this treasure of wisdom and joy has nothing to do with material possessions, or with intellectual knowledge. I know a father who provided his family with a palatial home in the suburbs with a beautiful garden looking out over the bay. Unfortunately, he was so busy he had no time to spend with his wife and son. The son who was a college graduate, had his own car and all the possessions, but he committed suicide in that garden. All our possessions are a wasteland without love. We must distinguish between pleasure and happiness. Happiness consists of unity and harmony within ourselves, and with the universe. Pleasure is either self-gratification, such as drink, sexuality, drugs, day-dreams; or it is filled with ego, with craving for the center of the stage. Happiness stems from doing our work, and giving. A mother takes care of her child, feeding it, encouraging it, and is happy when the child is happy. So, friends, observe carefully and differentiate between these two phenomena: the line of pleasure, and the line of happiness. -Pursuit of pleasure will not take you to the abundant life. Cultivating happiness can and will. There is never assurance of "happiness ever after", a phrase common in fiction. There are always hitches-things big and small, that go wrong, and we will not know joy unless we maintain our balance. Whether our expectations of someone or of ourselves are fulfilled or not, maintaining our balance will insure our happiness! Also on the forward path there always comes some suffering and pain. When you are scaling the mountain peak, you will get tired and hot. You may even fall back down a bit, which can be both painful and frightening. But finally you will reach the summit. You will see the whole universe spread out before you. At this point, there is a fullness of joy.

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What we usually do is to weave around ourselves a cocoon of safety and the habitual which feels secure; a cocoon made up of all the threads of many small preoccupations and diversions and accommodations to the world. We acquire a house and possessions, but our house and possessions possess us, confine us. We have a car, so we are free to travel, but even the car keeps us on a leash, so we are not inwardly free. We must emerge from the cocoon of habit, take the risks of change. Let even suffering come, and paradoxically, we will draw from it happiness! The mother in order to give birth to the baby, must go through much discomfort and often intense pain. However, she is happy with her baby. She willingly accepts pain, not because she loves pain for itself, but only for what giving birth has brought to herself and to the world. We do not blame any out-side force for the pain that progress in life demands. It is our work to transform ourselves, and pain and suffering, when borne with awareness, often contribute to this transformation. Christ on the cross cried, "Father, why hast thou forsaken me?" That showed his human pain. But was he not far happier than those who crucified him? You must work on yourself, for yourself and for mankind. That is why all the great prophets and Arihantas lived as exemplars. Why can't you grow and glow like them? When you feel love, God is there. When you give something, God is there. When you help someone, when you communicate understanding, God is there. When you dedicate yourself to joining others in making the world better, God is there. All the positive qualities in you are the expression of God shining through you as joy. We must also know that when things are going well, when we are content, this is the time we should be soft and tender. In this way we can share our joy with those around us. When, on the other hand, we are in difficulty, when we are feeling discouraged, this is the time to be strong and firm. This way we can resolve our problems. But usually we do this in reverse. When all is going well, when we feel we are in the midst of personal good fortune, we do not care, we do not hear, we do not reach out to help anyone; we become hard. And when we are down, we crumble, feel overcome, and rush to seek from others that which only we can give to ourselves. The difficulties we face are like the invigorating winds of winter. When trouble comes, we must not deny the trouble, so it will be repressed and create a psychological problem. Instead, let us say, "All right. Now I will trouble the trouble and the trouble will be over." Winter comes, but spring will follow. Life consists of just such cycles. When it is coldest, in a few weeks spring will arrive; but if we do not have patience, if we let ourselves become upset, then when spring comes we will not be fresh and strong to appreciate it. This is my teaching, do not identify yourself with the ups and downs of life--you are the Atman. We will not uncover joy in ourselves, if we do not give it to others. And the happiness we experience will be proportionate to the happiness we give. This realization is beyond words-- joy is known only in experience. Once an ancient seer was at the point of death, and his disciples came to him and asked, "How should we live ? What should we get from life ? What should we give to

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life?" The seer was quiet for a moment and then picked up a mango, held it in his hand and then after a few seconds put it down. His disciples again begged him, "Before you depart, please tell us your secret." Again the seer picked up the mango, and held it, and then put it down. His disciples begged him a third time, "You are leaving, but before you go, won t you explain to us the way and the truth? Again the seer picked up the mango. Then his disciples understood what he was trying to tell them. He was saying, "Find that life is sweet like a mango. And make life sweet like a mango." If you want happiness, spread happiness. If you want life to be sweet, give sweetness. Do not expect from the world what you are not willing to give. If you want appreciation, show appreciation. If you want understanding, give understanding. When you experience sweetness, you will radiate sweetness all around you. When you inwardly radiate truth and love, you see a different world, live in a different climate. Words, gestures, actions can all convey the sweetness of a mango. You can be an instrument of sweetness, if your concern is for the other's well-being and growth. The potter often taps the pot to shape it, but not to the breaking point ! Each is ultimately his own potter --each has the right to learn from his own mistakes. But we do not want to let the other destroy himself or others, through his blindness. Therefore we try to give out as much as we can of light and love. We have to have had the experience of certain states of consciousness to know they exist. Children who grow up in slums often do not know forests and streams exist! To them, nature is an unknown land. Also, many people have experienced various pleasures, but they do not know that various states, states of cosmic consciousness, states of bliss exist. (I do not call these "altered" states of consciousness, but "realized" states.) To many these are as unknown as North and South America were to Europeans, when only a few explorers had been there. As with anything which is unknown, fear may come as a barrier to growth. Then we remember that the wind of grace is always blowing, but we must open our sails. Let us concentrate on the treasure of joy which is within. The light we seek in church and temple we must find within ourselves, through meditation. We find the wellspring in ourselves, not outside. Man is evolution becoming conscious of itself.... Vision and inspiration will come as we meditate.... Thoughts 1. We have not come here to gain material things but to find the positive qualities that are the expression of joy, shining within us. 2. Meditate and open the door to the ultimate center of joy and light within. 3. The wind of grace is always blowing, but we must open our sails.

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Chapter Nine. - Meditation On Energy Friends. Today we will concentrate on energy. We do not possess energy, we are energy. The Atman, the soul is energy--living conscious energy. Matter also is energy, but it is energy without consciousness of life. In meditation we must realize, "I am spirit and light of conscious energy--with me, around me, and in me." In this time of special peace, in meditation, we can become aware of being this energy which is infinite and immortal. Then we feel vitality and know this is our true nature, that this energy is for creation. What differentiates man from other living beings are the qualities of our loving and our knowing. The earth is blessed with energy in many forms. Energy is in the rocks, in water, in air, in fire, in minerals, in the mud. Energy is in trees, grasses, flowers. Energy is in all the beasts and birds, in the fish of the sea and the insects of the air. All these forms of energy are interdependent. Human life is enhanced when our own energy is guided by love and intelligence, and degraded when our energy is guided by negative emotions, personal greed, and ignorance. Love and intelligence guiding our energy make us part of on-going evolution. Man's energy, the energy of spirit, can have dominance over other forms of energy. Think of the energy of Einstein that could penetrate the atom, and led to awareness of the chain reaction of the nuclear explosion. This gave man power. This energy is energy: With awareness it becomes a blessing; without awareness it may turn human life into a heap of ashes. The unknown summons our energies whether to cross seas, or travel to the moon. Violence and injustice challenge us to bring new energy to help create a peaceful, united brotherhood of man. In a sense, however, mankind is already a brother-hood. Invisibly we are all related to every soul in the world, and yet every soul is a stranger. This is the paradox! We are all related and yet we are alone. We meditate to understand this paradox and to find what we can be in relation to the world. This way we find ourselves. We find the blessing the world needs from us, and thus we are blessed. Love is the greatest energy of the cosmos, the energy that makes all that could be unfold, the cosmogenic energy. This human energy is expressed in thoughts, emotions, words, action. Man is born with the capacity to react with a variety of emotions, and sometimes his early childhood experiences largely determine which will become predominant. If he is treated with respect he will respect himself and others. If his initiative is approved he will retain initiative. If he is allowed to think for himself, he will be original. The child is the future, but the parent can have a powerful influence on the child's future. Whether love and intelligence will guide our energy depends much on the love and intelligence shown us as children. However, with awareness and meditation, we learn to forgive ignorance in our parents and go beyond the limits of our childhood. This shows the strength of love.

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Communication is a major source and outlet of the love and intelligence that guide our energy, so let us focus on our energy that goes into communication. Social conventions communicate, such as racial or class discrimination. Actions communicate: as it is said, "actions speak louder than words." Facial expressions, gestures, tone of voice, everything that we are, communicates. However, words, articulate language especially, are the media of human communication. And how little we know about using them ! We know how to use electricity, but not the more powerful energy of our verbal communication. Words produce a reaction that comes back on us. A wellknown Indian story illustrates this. A boy wandered into a woods at the foot of a mountain and called out, "You are the devil." He heard a voice answer, "You are the devil." In terror, he hurried home and told his mother what he had heard. She said, "Don't worry, son, I'll show you who was speaking." She took him back to the same spot and told him to call, "I love you." He did, and the voice answered, "I love you." She explained, "That was only an echo." In society we continuously echo each other. One nation says, "You are a dangerous enemy," and we hear the answer, "You are a dangerous enemy.' We say, "I have many nuclear bombs," and we hear the without seeming to realize that what they do causes others to do the same. Each threatens by words and threatens by actions, blind to the results. Each society and each individual, should take the initiative in communicating with love and intelligence. In today's world, words that were meant to lead us are used to mislead us. We are constantly deluged and deluded by advertising which tells us, "Use this hairspray and be beautiful." Or, "Drink this whiskey and be happy." And in politics, truth is reduced to credibility. Any verbal device which can manipulate the public and disguise facts is considered viable. And as to ourselves, most of the time, we use language to conceal our thoughts and feelings rather than to reveal ourselves. Ultimately this becomes our own barrier and we confuse and deceive ourselves. The moment you begin to use language to reveal rather than conceal yourself, you begin the journey from the lower to the Higher Self. For that we must concentrate on the subtlety of our communications, and the purpose behind them. Here is a story that illustrates this subtlety, and its effect. Once there was a king who had a terrible dream, a frightening nightmare. In this dream, he saw each of the thirty-two teeth in his mouth fall out one by one. He was very disturbed when he awoke. Right away he sent for his wise men and soothsayers. Two of them, upon hearing his account of the dream, told him they could explain it to him. The first one said it was like this: "Sire, what this dream signifies is that every member of your family will die before you. One by one you shall have to witness their deaths before your very eyes. And, what is worse, you will not be able to do anything to pre-vent this." When the king heard these words he became terribly depressed and locked himself in his chambers. For a whole day he did not come out or take any food. Finally, he emerged and the other soothsayer who had indicated that he understood the dream came forward and said,

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"Lord, in this dream of yours I see the promise of your great longevity. You will live to such an old age that none of the members of your family will have to witness your death. They will be spared this painful experience." The king sat up and said, "So I shall live long, and my family will be spared the sorrow of mourning for me." Then he smiled and was consoled. Communication can elicit or can crush hope. Communication can turn potential friends into enemies, or potential enemies into friends. Let us enter meditation by concentrating on how we use our energy in communicating; do we conceal or do we reveal ourselves. Let us concentrate on how our communication, by revealing ourselves, can spread in the world around us, amity, appreciation, compassion, equanimity and concord. We cannot wait for these qualities to come from the outside; we must initiate them. Thoughts 1. Let us communicate with love and intelligence, to increase the earth's expression of joy. 2. We cannot wait for non-violence and truth to take over the world. We have to be the initiators. 3. Man's energy of spirit can have dominance over other forms of energy. Let us use it as light and love.

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Chapter Ten - Meditation On Creative Action Friends. Today we will concentrate on the question, "How do I put divine energy---which is in me--into creative action"... If our energy is guided by love and intelligence, the human dimension becomes the foundation of the spiritual. Physical and spiritual are not contrary: they are complementary dimensions. Human and divine also are not contrary, but complementary. We must make the human support the divine. When our actions are guided by love and intelligence, matter helps spirit fulfill its aspirations. Our actions create our destiny. This life is in our hands. In this life, our time and energy are limited to this journey. We want to fulfill ourselves: to use, and not misuse, our talents and energies. We can never find a better time than now. There may be a New Age ahead, but now is our time. We are here; this hour is for our unfoldment and fulfillment. And tomorrow is not separate from today. Tomorrow, friends, is constructed today. Atman is soul, and atom is matter. Life is the partnership of the two. The Essence looks through our eyes, and hears with our ears and speaks with our lips, and learns and acts with our whole being. Behind the visible is the invisible, that gives it function. Also, experience has to be digested, as well as food. We do not want thoughts, words, deeds-this human trinity--to create negativity. We withdraw from the world during meditation, in order to know who we are and how we can help the Cosmos; and we return brimming and overflowing with positive energy, energy in the hands of love and intelligence. Through the qualities of his loving and his knowing, man is constantly being born. He is giving rebirth to himself, a rebirth in which he becomes conscious of the causes and consequences of his assumptions and actions. He evaluates, judges what he has been doing, chooses a new option, and explores and develops the new possibility. In this way, he moves toward the fuller realization of his essence, his divinity.... The day dawns for him who is awake. Growth and progress are not instant, but the fact of human ascent is discernible. Take a moment and think--Is man not a miracle?... From a single cell we have grown to the point where we can observe the moon, the sun, light rays. But do we learn anything by observing our own interactions Many centuries ago in China, Mo-Tzu said: "If it is a crime to rob or kill one man, how much greater a crime to rob or kill a nation of men."

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Now at last, even though military appropriations in-crease, many people all over the world are rejecting war. The soul which discovered the power of the atom can also discern between its constructive and destructive use. We can use creative energy, which is within us, to choose life. We are not, in essence, the destroyer of ourselves or others. The destruction we bring about is not from the soul, the Atman. It is from helplessness, ignorance, unbelief, armored in pride and ego. Under the armor is always a soft being who wants to give and receive love, and who aspires to emancipation.... Energy must flow into acts of love. Unless we love, books do not educate us. If the heart is dry, without love, inside us nothing grows. Knowledge from the brain is barren. As a poet said, "The heart has the reasons which reason cannot define." Love is a fountain of energy. If you love yourself and others, you live. If you hate yourself and others, you die. You must feel that "I am energy--and responsible for the use of that energy and of all physical energy." At that time you will recognize your true self. Friends, how much energy is poured into pastimes, into petty self-gratifications, and selfindulgence, in-to wasting time, and into the world's hurly-burly--into lust, driving nowhere in fast cars, drinking, taking drugs to relax. We waste energy in worry. Let go of guilt-- say, "That time I was ignorant, and now I know" Don't compare yourself with others. Gandhi was small in body, and if he had compared himself with others he might have doubted whether he was impressive enough to lead a nation. All night we thrash, turn, consume energy meant for the morning. The cure for this disease lies hidden in the heart of the illness. The essence of these states of excitement, of these emotional whirlwinds, is energy. Instead of the problems we now cause ourselves, we can learn to transmute destructive actions into constructive energy. Today, friends, in this age of a global society which is also the nuclear age, we need to use meditation to find the divinity within, in order to find meaning in life. If we find the divinity within, we will want the well-being of all. There are two kinds of meditation. One is meditation with the eyes lowered, or closed. The other is meditation with the eyes wide open. When we meditate with our eyes closed, we go within to the subconscious and superconscious, the essence, the divinity. Lust is transformed into love. Selfcenteredness and indifference become transform-ed into compassion and the desire to serve mankind. Apathy and doubt, skepticism and cynicism become transformed into living and intelligent action.... Energy bubbles and pulsates. Meditation with the eyes open shows us the world around us, and from the world around us--Sun, wind, trees, humanity-- comes energy: the center and the circumference interact. We can meditate walking in the street or by the sea, or sitting in the subway.

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Around us we see all we have been given: sea and ness, for we could not live without earth, water, fire, air, nor without one another--including the efforts of millions of strangers. We are dependent on one another for our food, our clothes, our homes, our streets, our vehicles, our boats, our children, our education, our science, our art, our religion. Meditation will show us how to make our interdependence benefit us all, so no one will be advantaged at an-other's expense. Meditation will make us grateful, humble, enthused and united. When there is luminosity at the center, everything is telling us of great mysteries. And we see that since we are living in time and space, nothing is static. Time gives us change, which is a part of evolution, an unfolding and opening out of what is contained within. When you meditate, there is no fearful distrust, no tense uncertainty, no roughness, no coarseness. Meditation deepens understanding, love and intelligence. The world is full of beautiful things, and of compelling challenges; we are too often not aware of them. It is full of beings that need our compassion, not our constant criticism and condemnation. When we have reached our center through meditation, we will not avoid confrontation with the opposition! opponent. If we deny the humanity of another, we deny our own. If we are strongly "on center", we can see the foolishness of the fool without being shaken. When the seer meets an angry man, he thinks, "One mad man is enough." Also we cannot always educate the obsessed. Once an angry man harangued Buddha for a long time. When he was finished, Buddha replied, "Keep your words: they are like a bucket of jagged rocks. I have no use for them, so I will not receive them." In meditation we make sure our actions are directed toward our life's mission. Our mission should not be one imposed on us by our family, or by the impact of our society. We must choose it. In meditation, we can come to be sure our choice is neither impressed from outside, nor an expression of our ego. Then when we know our mission, we have to make our-selves unavailable to all the superficial demands on us that would distract and deplete our energy. Life can be manysided: we may have a vocation, family ties and responsibilities; and apart from our vocation, we may want to work for social change. All these aspects of life can enrich us and lead to meaningful actions. If we give ourselves to a life's mission leading to our essence. we will be linked to all the living. Love and intelligence lead us to recognize each moment in our lives by what we do, as the potter is shaped by the pot he makes. When we discover our mission in each moment, our lives will become transformed. The world is a guest house where people can co-operate and help each other. Life is a wonderful gift filled with gifts. But why are peace and justice so lacking; Where have truth and beauty gone? We have used zeal and energy for control of physical plane. Now we must use our zeal and energy to bring to all beings the gift of unity and peace and justice. To realize this prospect we will have to delve deep into ourselves.

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How can we make the human the foundation of divine? By going to the divine within, purifying our own essence. If our lives combine contemplation and action, the mystical experience will afford us new options. We can never follow old precedents to reach new possibilities. And if we know our life's mission, we will not be afraid even of death. Think of how many sons have been expected to be willing to die in war for their countries. Then is it any wonder that seers have been willing to live and even to die, if necessary, for mankind? Christ when nailed to the cross said, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do." At death's door he thought of others. Death held no fear for Socrates, who insisted he was not a citizen of Athens but of the world. He drank the hemlock, but for him, poison was no poison. If we know our mission, fire cannot burn us, water cannot drown us, drought cannot desiccate us: we can be calm and and at peace with the fact of physical death. Karma tells us that every thought, word, and action goes into the universe: there is universal recorder. There is record of every thought, word, and deed influencing the future. Yes these vibrations work like the telephone and radio and television. We have faith in these, but do not realize that our own energies set up vibrations that register in the universe. When we meditate, we give vibrations of love, peace and understanding. And then these impel us to actions. The day will pass: what you give, stays. We live in a dynamic universe. One act can produce a whole chain of actions so the present and the future are both enriched. Let us glide into meditation and discover our creative energy and how to use it more constructively. Thoughts 1. Nothing compares to life: it is the greatest miracle in the world.... The day you awake to this is your birthday. 2. The combination of meditation and action can open doors to vast insights.... We cannot follow past precedents to reach future possibilities. 3. If we converge the rays of the sun, we can light a fire. If we converge our inspired efforts, we can "have life and have it abundantly."

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Mahavir Jayanti This talk was given on April 15, 1973 at the Chapel of the United Nations We are celebrating Mahavir Jayanti, Mahavir's birthday, and it rejoices my heart that this celebration is being held at the United Nations Chapel and is open for people of all nations and all religions. I have long felt that just as light and air and water are indispensable to each human being, even so the principles of the great religions are meant for mankind. Certainly the Jain principles of Ahimsa, which is non-violence; of Aparigraha, meaning nonacquisition and limited consumption, and the theory of relativity, and the law of Karma--are all indispensable to mankind, in fact to all living beings, if we are to survive. I would earnestly wish that not only Mahavir Jayanti, but the birth anniversaries of all the prophets and great men who have given the world the message of non-violence and non-acquisition, who have carried on deep research in the essence of godliness, be celebrated by all communities. By enclosing the Divine Light within the narrow confines of any one denomination, we warp our own personality by being closed-minded, and also deprive humanity of the boon of wisdom of many seers. Vinoba Bhave, once shocked a crowd he was addressing when he said, "I am more elevated than all the prophets." Then he explained, "We have had the words of Buddha, Mahavir and Christ, the words of all the great teachers, and now, as a child who climbs on his father's shoulders can see further than his father, so we can use the wisdom of the prophets to climb even higher than they did." Truly, we are lucky people that we can do this. Contemplation on the great wisdom of the teachings and on our own lives held up to their light will both open the door to the inner Self, and give us the vision of the outer world we need in these portentous times. It is because Bhagvan Mahavir was an embodiment of truth and wisdom that he abides even after twenty-five hundred years. If we shut our eyes, we can experience him as if he had just been among us. Why does he seem so near to us, so fresh, so permanent? Because truth is timeless. While earthly objects, large or small, important or unimportant, constantly undergo change and die, truth does not. Of course we can realize new aspects of truth, as relativity implies. And we can remove the historical distortions from truth, that some followers of the sages seem to prefer to their essential teachings. I would like to relate to you the anecdote that first drew me to Mahavir. The language of the state in which I grew up was kannada, and thirty-two years ago I knew nothing of Jainism. One day I came across a saying of Mahavir rendered in Kannada: "Just as a mighty mango tree is hidden within the stone of the mango, even so, oh man, God ,almighty is hidden within you. Rest not until you find him." This beautiful thought convinced me that like the stone in the mango, the fire in the flint, God is inherent in each of us. This is what Mahavir illustrated by his life.

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Vaishali in Bihar State is the place of the birth of Mahavir, a merciful soul born in 599 B.C. in a royal family. His father was Siddhartha and his mother was the beautiful queen Trishala. He was wedded to a lovely wife, Yashoda, and had a daughter named Privadarshana. He lived in an atmosphere of luxury. He sensed the existence of suffering and sorrow and hardship beyond the high walls of the palace, and tried in vain to shut out the misery of the world. He was aware that man preyed upon man, that those in power cunningly exploited the common people instead of redressing their grievances. As he acquired this knowledge through the light of his meditational, the life within the palace became increasingly wearisome, and he felt restless and heavy at heart. Finally, unable to bear the thought of the sufferings of his fellow beings, Mahavir gave up his position as a prince to enter this world of struggle outside the palace walls. Studying the universe, Mahavir realised it was full of beings who were unprotected, and helpless. He saw that men of lust treated women with scant respect; a man would keep numerous mistresses, as if women were goods and belongings. This abject position of women grieved his heart. Then there was the practice of animal sacrifice. Devotees, draped in spotlessly clean cloth and with flowers in their hands, slaughtered dumb animals as offerings in front of the images of the deities they worshipped. Why this atrocity in the name of religion, Mahavir wondered! The inhuman treatment meted out to untouchables, the pain of the shudras, stabbed his heart. Caste-distinction had gone to incredible lengths. An out-caste was treated worse than a brute. While pet dogs and cats were nourished and cared for, a man whose occupation was regarded as "unclean" was hounded out like a mad dog, in the name of religion ! Today many of us feast gaily in fashionable restaurants callous to the unspeakable misery of our fellow men. We talk vociferously about the uplift of the poor and declare ourselves apostles of equality, but there is a vast gulf between what we practice and what we preach. This United Nations was established to promote world unity and peace, but wars continue. Mahavir did not content himself with preaching without practice. He determined that he would practice equality, limited consumption, in his own mode of life. Equality cannot be established by mere words. The first step towards equality, for Mahavir, was to remove the root of inequality-- -luxury. Even the pleadings and tears of his dear ones failed to restrain him from taking the first decisive step: he renounced his wealth and power, and became a monk. Only when thought, word, and deed are in agreement can there be the music of harmony in a man's life. Just as a scientist devotes himself to his research in a laboratory, Mahavir devoted himself for twelve and half years to this experiment of introducing total non-violence in his thought, word, and deed. Mahavir in his exploration of non-violence used meditation, silence and penance. He realised that by means of deep meditation he could rid himself of ego, and realize the true self. With the help of silence, he could purify his speech and speak from silence

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which would radiate the reality. With the practice of penance, he could purify his body and senses which produce the vibrations of health. By penance I mean largely the sacrifice that is entailed in any creative endeavor. To pass an examination, a student will sacrifice his leisure and pastimes. To bear a child, a mother will endure the pain of childbirth. To experience peace and self-reliance, one must give up luxury and hoarding. This penance or sacrifice does not come from any outside compulsion; it comes from our inner understanding and well-being. Penance of course can include also fasting and other voluntary suffering which many of the great religious traditions have regarded as a step toward experiencing the inspiration of union with the Divine. For enlightenment, unity and harmony of body, speech and mind are inevitable. If the body is a house of disease, how can one enjoy peace? If speech is distorted with lies and pretension, how can one express the truth? If the mind is confused with emotions, limitations and projections, how can one experience clarity and purity. To create unity of this trinity, meditation, silence and penance become the means. Mahavir in his meditations realised that all human beings, all living beings in the whole world, desire three things--- happiness, friendship, and freedom. By giving an added inflection to the word happiness, Mahavir filled it with a new significance. The happiness that all beings crave he defined as "bliss". Bliss is not sensuous happiness, not mere pleasure and indulgence. Senses get fatigued, satiated, therefore sensuous happiness does not endure. However, there is no fatigue in bliss because it stems from contentment, peace. "Aparigraha", non-acquisition, is the key to this spiritual treasure. The man who strives unceasingly to amass material treasure finds that his peace of mind is gone, often he cannot even enjoy the quiet sleep his body needs, so he has to drug himself to snatch a few hours of troubled sleep. Is he then, happy? Mahavir pointed out that only inner peace and contentment lead to true happiness. Now for the second desire of man- friendship. It is in human nature to desire a friend. Life is lived in relationship to others, and without such relationship life is a barren, lonely desert. However, our first friend is within. Mahavir was in tune with his inner voice and advised, "Seek friendship with your own soul. Learn to understand your soul through introspection: talk with your soul in solitude, confide all your joys and sorrows to your soul and this friend will never let you down, never let you feel lonely. This bond between you and your soul is unbreakable and in it you will find solace...." But this companionship needs to be cultivated. Spare some time every day to converse with your soul, in solitude and in silence, and you will experience a sense of security, a sense of serenity which will build a bridge of companionship between the self and the world at large. Now we come to the third desire that fills the human heart--- the desire for freedom. But freedom from what and for what? We need freedom from hunger and outward insecurity. We need freedom from outer tyranny and coercion, from violence or the threat of

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violence. As I just said, we need freedom from the pressure to acquire possessions and status, since these will not make us happy but only distract us from finding inner peace. Most of all, we need freedom from our inner enemies; from fear, pride, greed, vindictive rage, indifference. We need freedom to become what we were meant to be, to be aware of the glory within, to realize our divinity. We need freedom to turn away from the nonessentials as did all Arihantas, and to become fully ourselves by being concerned for the welfare of all. With the coming of political freedom, whether in the U.S.A. two centuries ago or in India recently, has our attitude toward suffering changed ? Violence, overt and covert, continues unabated. Famines cannot be wiped out by rituals and ceremonies. Nor can the problem of famines all around the world be solved by giving free food and clothing, although not to supply these would be inhuman. People will be able to rid themselves of the spectre of famine only if they struggle to their feet in sincere endeavor to end this bizarre inequality. But also, those who have the capacity to help others must find a way to do so. There have been so many prophets, so many saints, and yet the conflict between man and man continues unchecked--conflict for territory, for material resources, for power. Words cannot express the poignancy of my grief at the sight of this conflict raging all around us. Is there no remedy for this malaise? Reverence for life calls for building institutions such as the United Nations, dedicated to a global community without injustice or war. The law of Karma implies that action brings reaction. We cannot be violent without perpetuating violence. Reverence for life calls for social change but admits of no enemies. It demands the humanity of the opponent be recognized, and speaks with amity. Moral fury is as bad as any other fury. Those whose survival is safe, who are free from fear of starvation or helplessness must share their privilege to free those who are in hunger and pain. This way the freedom will dawn from within and without. Today being the birth anniversary of Mahavir, our hearts lift with joy. We have all come together on this auspicious occasion, but how can we derive the greatest benefit from it. Only if from our contemplations we attain a determination which would enrich life. Then, and then alone will we add to the radiance of this day, and the brilliance of this night! The life of Bhagwan Mahavir and his meditations are as vast as the ocean. How can I do justice to such greatness within this brief hour? I can only awaken your imagination. I would pray humbly yet fervently that just as light, air and water benefit all, so also contemplation, silence and penance, Ahimsa and Aparigraha, should be practiced for the benefit of all living beings.