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REALIZE WHAT YOU ARE:
Meditation does not mean you go away and hide, or withdraw from life to be a hermit and avoid responsibility. Meditation is unity and harmony. The meaning of meditation is to be with life. If you are eating a piece of bread, enjoy it. Don't compare yourself with people eating delicacies in the Waldorf Astoria. Only when your mind is with you are you happy. When the mind goes somewhere else, unhappiness is created. We start looking down on ourselves. We imagine that life is working out well for rich men, or politicians, or famous personalities. It is always working out well for someone else, but not for us. Even in a peaceful moment, the mind steps in to tell us we are wretched.
Thinking this way, we ultimately become afraid of happiness, afraid of joy and bliss. We believe the joy of life is meant for others-the great saints and enlightened men; that others must be gifted with some outside light and energy. We think, “I don't have that gift, it is not for me." And if it comes, we withdraw, thinking that enlightenment is not meant for us; joy is not meant for us. Believing this, it will never come to you. Even if it does, you withdraw from it, you don't enjoy it. But if someone tells you a certain teacher is enlightened, you run to hear and see him. You believe enlightenment can come to everyone but yourself.
The whole society lives in this way and some religious teachings emphasize this way of thinking. For example, many traditions put women in second or third class. The priests have always been men, women could not carry the message. In some ceremonies women are not allowed to
