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One can be brave and tough in front of others, but inside be very weak. We succumb to our negative feelings. You can see a newborn baby, so beautiful in the crib. What happened? We lost our smile along the way. We need jokes to make us smile. When you are one with your Atma, you are happy, content, peaceful. When you are not, you are sad, angry, jealous. If you hold onto the negative energy, it will consume you, you become more unhappy, tense, uncomfortable. The negative energy burns you more. Enemy and friend are the same person. A man once bought a diamond ring for his wife, now they don't get along. Misunderstanding, anger, jealousy got in the way.
This teaching is very fresh. It is today, not yesterday, not tomorrow. It is now or never. You have to make your commitment very strong: I will meditate. Making this commitment is like chewing gum day and night, eventually it will settle in your neurons. The bad things we try to forget and cannot, the good things we cannot remember—this is the longevity of negativity. I remember when I was a monk I knew a mother who was very old and about to go. She had four sons. They invited me to come see her. I told her, “Mother, you have to forgive everyone, first yourself, then everyone.” But she did not like her youngest son, who had married a woman from another belief. She had told him years ago, “I don't want to see your face, because you don't respect my opinion.” Still on her dying bed she would not forgive her son, she kept holding onto her negative feelings.
Everyone is here according to karma. Noone belongs to anyone else. No possessiveness. You belong to the universe. Your body is not yours. Your memory is not yours. There was a very important man, a president of a large company, whose neurons were no longer working, and he didn't know where the bathroom was anymore. Once you know that “I am Atma" you allow people to be, with no hate, no dislike, no judgment. If you don't try to hold onto people, they will stay with you. Control is controlling, it cannot control, it does not work. The first forgiveness is with yourself. If you do not realize yourself, your Atma, you will not believe in yourself.
One of my friends is a Roman Catholic priest. We meet to talk, and one day we were discussing, what is sin? Sin is the denial of Divinity in yourself. We are living because of that Divinity. When Divinity leaves the body, we die. Mahavir was a simple person. But he had realized, “I am Atma” twenty seven births before. Man can become superman, when Atma becomes Paramatma. Seeing a statue of Mahavir is an inspiration: he overcame his attachments, his ego, and his Atma became Paramatma. When you realize yourself completely, your Atma
42 - Journey to Enlightenment - Volume Two
