It is All Here and Now

by Chariji, November 05, 2009, Gangtok, India.

Dear brothers and sisters,

I was hoping that we would meet again tomorrow morning, but it seems I have to leave by half past seven because of the poor road condition. I have nothing very original to say, except a thought that came to me during this satsangh that all the differences that human beings perceive between themselves, like religion, language, race, colour, all that serves to only emphasize that at the bottom, at the base, we are one. Otherwise these differences would not matter.

We don’t talk of a difference between a cow and a goat, or a goat and a camel. If we talk of differences, we talk of differences between dogs, between cows, between camels, which again proves this point that at base they are one. So at base if you are not one, there could not be differences which could be categorized and say, “You belong to Sikkim and he is from Darjeeling and yeh madrasi hai [he is from Madras],” that sort of a thing, you see. So it is like a flower guccha [bunch] — they have to be all flowers. That is the uniting factor.

So what makes us all come together here from so many parts of India into the hills (which are not very comfortable for South Indians), in the cold, is this fundamental unity of our existence as human beings: facing the same problems of existence, facing the same likes and dislikes, loves and hates, prosperity and no prosperity, things like that, and the single idea of God. We may call Him by different names, we may worship Him in different ways, but yet it is God whom we are worshipping, not something else, you know

So this thought came to me that the more different we are, the more one we are. Because if you look at roses, there are hundreds of different roses. Orchids, I don’t know how many (forty, fifty types of orchids at least), yet they are all orchids. We are all human beings. If you remember this fundamental fact that we are all human beings, therefore we are one. We have the same heart, we have the same needs: physical needs, emotional needs, spiritual needs. And what divides us, what makes us fight with each other, hate each other is this stupid thing we call the intellect, which creates boundaries, borders, and so on

I remember when Babuji Maharaj was in, I think Europe, in Germany, many abhyasis were weeping when he was leaving. You know, he had that capacity to win a heart by just looking at you. And all of them were weeping, and Babuji said, “Why do you weep?” Some of the abhyasis, they said, “You are going so far away.” He said, “No, I am not going far away at all. You think it is far. Just imagine that India is in Germany, you know, and the problem is solved.&rdquo

If you are in Germany, do you think you are far away from Hamburg and Munich? You don’t. If you are in India, do you say, “I am very far away,” when you are in Calcutta and I am in Chennai or she is in Pithoragarh? So, you see, we separate ourselves. We suffer this separation, the pangs of separation, by imagining that we are far away or we are very near and we are separating, when in reality there is nothing near, there is nothing far. It is all here and now. So the fundamental truth of spirituality is here and now. Not yesterday, not tomorrow —here and now. If we are here together as a group, brought together by a common aspiration, belonging to a common brotherhood of human beings, there is no problem at all. We help each other, we love each other, we support each other and we are There. ‘There’ means wherever we should be, by the grace of the Master. Babuji Maharaj has written enough about it. He is sending messages about it. And the brighter world is not something there up in the sky, you know

We are looking for happiness. Where is happiness? It cannot be in Sikkim and not in Kalimpong and not in some other place. If you are happy, that is happiness. If you are miserable, it is here. So happiness and sorrow are within you. But we are always looking outside for it

“No, no, I am going on a holiday.”<

“I want to be happy.&rdquo

The wise man would say, “If you are not already happy, don’t go looking for it because it is not there.&rdquo

What is not here is never outside, including what we call God — the goal of our Sahaj Marg meditation. It is here that we are focussing, in the heart; it is here we have the Divine Light. We are not thinking of some temple or some church or some mosque. We are thinking right here that in my heart is the divine Being, whose sole presence is expressed by that Divine Light which Babuji says, “Imagine its presence and try to realize it.&rdquo

So, you see, what is not in your heart is nowhere in this universe. If happiness is not in your heart, you are not going to find it anywhere else. If love is not in your heart, you are not going to find it anywhere else. The problem with human beings is, we always expect love from somebody else. “Nobody loves me.” Why should anybody love you, if you don’t love somebody else? Love begins here [the heart]; if it begins here, there is no end to it. It is not bound by space; it is not bound by time. There is no distance. You don’t even think whether the beloved is alive or dead.

As I was telling some people yesterday, one old couple came to Babuji Maharaj in bitter tears, you know. They had lost somebody (somebody had died). Babuji looked at them with his piercing gaze, like that and said, “You say he is dead, but I see him here.” So you see, if you have developed the ability to love the essence, not the form and the figure or what he has or what she has, you see the essence of the person and that is always present with you. It cannot die. It cannot be born. As the Vedas say, it is. And what is, always was and always will be — that is a Vedic statement. What was not, can never be; and what is, can never cease to be.

So, if I have in my heart my happiness, what little of divinity is given to me by my Master, a friendly attitude towards all, love towards all, compassion towards all, mercy towards all — I am the perfect being or approaching that perfect being about which the Buddha speaks, about which Kabir speaks, and of course about which my own Master has spoken so much.

So please remember that all our differences only unite us, because that which is not one cannot be many and yet be one. When you go to buy vegetables, you know this is a vegetable, this is vegetable, this is vegetable. One may be a tomato, one may be a baingan [brinjal], one may be a cauliflower; yet they are vegetables. You don’t buy a fish and say, this is also vegetable. You don’t buy eggs and say, this is also vegetable. So the very fact of being many vegetables makes vegetable one category. We are humans — a single category of existence. As humans we must live. As humans we are going to die. As humans we must be brothers, friends, supporters, loving each other in harmony always, which will automatically remove differences and make us really one, by heart.

Now we are only politically one or geographically one. European (geographic), Sikkimese (geographic), Hindu (religion). Isn’t it? Pahaadi [mountain dweller] (again geographic). Engineer (profession wise), doctors (profession wise), administrative service (profession wise). IAS has its own association; so have the other services, and they meet once a year, same batch — reunion. But we belong all to humanity. We are all human beings. IAS officer is also a human being. A beggar on the street is also a human being. So when we, you know, we emphasize these differences, we hurt not the other person, but we hurt ourselves. Because the moment you say he or she is a beggar, you suffer. You must suffer. You must be able to ask God, “Why is he or she like that and why am I like this? Let me share what I have, and even out the differences between the two of us.” It is in sharing, it is in caring that we manifest our humanity the most.

So brothers and sisters, I have breathing problems as you all know. So, I cannot speak more, but as in Islam they say Insha-Allah, if I am to come here again, I hope you will all tell me some things which I would like to hear — about how things have changed for you, how your heart has changed. You are no longer selfish; you are no longer arrogant; you are no longer proud; you are no longer acquisitive; you are no longer suspicious. These are the changes that you must look for in yourself. Because many abhyasis say, “I do not know what God is, I have never felt.” How can you feel? You cannot feel, you see, unless this [heart] is willing to let you feel. And when will this let you feel? First of all fear must go. It is like a man who is afraid of a tiger and saying I have never seen a tiger in my life. Well, if you want to see a tiger, you must go into the jungle, no fear. Similarly if you want to love human beings you must be with them, not away from them, not separating yourself, not locking yourself up. You understand?

So for you, all people, I pray to my Master that, let us see harmony grow, let us see love grow among all of us, not only abhyasis. I am not talking only of abhyasis; I am talking to abhyasis about loving human beings everywhere. They are all our brothers and sisters, wherever they may be, whoever they may be, whatever they may be. My blessings to you all.

Thank you.